The Broken Horn
by renko-chan
Summary: AU. InuKag. Stressed and tired, Kagome just wants to get away from her life. One night, a strange boy appears at her window and offers her exactly that. But unknownst to her, there are strings attached and there is no turning back...
1. Caged Canary

Summary: AU. Inu/Kag. Stressed and tired, Kagome just wants to get away from her life. One night, a strange boy appears at her window and offers her exactly that. But unknownst to her, there are strings attached. Soon, Kagome finds herself in a whole new place but different rules are at play. She then begins to wonder if she's just been led from one cage to another one. 

**Disclaimer:** So I met up with Rumiko Takahashi the other day to ask her for the ownership of her Inuyasha series. You know, so then I wouldn't have to write these stupid disclaimers all the time. I'll save time and space. Also. Inuyasha's cool. And so is Miroku. Well apparently, my lunch money wasn't enough to buy it and she wouldn't let me have it from the goodness of her heart. So, no. Inuyasha is not mine. I also met up with Daisuke Moriyama later that day because his story was part of the inspiration for writing this one. I wanted ownership for his series (Chrno Crusade) so I could...well, the main character of his series is really hot. I mean, really really HOT. But that wasn't a good enough reason for him and also because I said that his series was PART of my inspiration to write this story and not the WHOLE inspiration. He found it insulting to have to stand next to Peter Pan. And unfortunately, Arakawa Hiromu (Fullmetal Alchemist) felt the same too. So. I was SO close. Damn my big mouth. And uh, what else? Oh, yes, BLEACH by Kubotite (even though his series pay little contribution to this story) because the main character of his series has this REALLY nice big-ass sword and you know, who doesn't like pretty, big-ass swords? But I guess taking a french fry from his plate (I asked first, I swear!) is considered a crime in his rule book so getting ownership for his series was an obvious no-no. He also made me pay for dinner. Grr. So as you can see, I'm not exactly on the good side of four particular well-known mangaka(s?). Yes, a very good day for Renko. 

So now you ask, why in the world is Renko taking up so much space for her lame disclaimer. It's called playing it safe, sweetie. I'm just trying to cite everything because I don't want someone to make the mistake that some of the ideas that contribute to the plot of this story are mine. 'Cause they're not (grudingly admits). So, if any other events, ideas, etc. bear any simliarities to anything else, it is entirely coincidence unless stated (later) otherwise. Hmm. I might as well throw in Pirates of the Caribbean, just in case. You gotta love Johnny Depp. - This disclaimer goes for all future chapters for this story. I'm not going to be stupid and put this disclaimer on every chapter. 

Author's Note: Oh dear Lord. Another new story?? Yes! And am I excited? Oh, yes I am! Just a warning, this fic is a bit darker than my other fics. It has some religious aspects but nothing offensive (I hope). There will also be parts where it can be a bit gory and violent (note the R rating which is also for language) but I'll up warning beforehand for the faint-hearted. Right, so let's get started. - 

Note: In Japan, their school year usually ends some time around April. 

* * *

**The Broken Horn **

Chapter One 

Caged Canary 

* * *

  
  
Kagome Higurashi sat quietly in her chair, her hands in her lap and glared at her Calculus homework. Because, you know, when you do that it's suppose to magically disappear which was what she dearly wanted it to do. But life wasn't that fair. 

Kagome scanned over her tabletop. Textbooks with loose pieces of binder paper sticking out, folders, binders, and random colored paper littered her table. Half of it was homework, the other half bulletins, letters, and forms for clubs and extracurricular activities. Kagome rubbed her eyes tiredly. 

_God, I have so much to do..._

Kagome tapped her pencil on the table as she looked up at the clock. _4:25PM._ He should be here anytime now... 

As she waited, Kagome observed her surroundings from her secluded spot. The library wasn't as crowded as it usually was but there was still quite a number of people here. Madam Narita, the librarian, was sitting at her desk, sending occasional glances around her to make sure no one was raising their voices. Groups of students were scattered around the library, sitting at tables and couches, muttering quietly to one another. There were some who were sleeping on armchairs, most looking utterly exhausted. 

Kagome smiled sympathetically. They were undoubtedly 11th graders. The end of the year was closing in and final exams were approaching. The 11th year was always the hardest and the most important. Along with the unmerciful finals, there was also testing for college. Those test scores were excruciatingly crucial since they played a large part in what college or university would accept you. Easy was not a category that testing fell into. Nights grew long with the never-ending studying. It was not unusual to see seventeen year-olds trudging to school baggy-eyed. 

Slowly, Kagome was starting to feel the edge too. It was difficult to get a good night's sleep with the many clubs and activities she participated in combined with the hours she needed to study. She sighed. She couldn't wait for this year to be over. Most of the difficulties would be over then. 

But the quietness of the library was very soothing and calming. Sitting here (not doing her Calculus homework) and just thinking of nothing, relaxed her mind. That's why she loved libraries. It was always quiet. 

That is, until her cell phone rang. 

Her bag started to vibrate as her phone started jarringly to sing 'Jingle Bells' on the top of its little speakers. Kagome let out a small 'eep' as she scrambled for her bag. She quickly ducked into it and pulled her phone out, very conscious of other people's stares and Madam Narita's you-should-know-better look. 

"Hello?" Kagome whispered. 

_"KAGOME HIGURASHI, WHERE IN THE SEVEN HELLS _ARE_ YOU!"_

Kagome cringed at the sound of Yuka's pounding scream. She pushed back her chair and saw that how she was drawing more stares now. 

"Um, hold on a minute, Yuka," Kagome said into her phone. 

Her phone continued to emit Yuka's screams and screeches as Kagome scurried out of the library, deliberately avoiding eye contact with anyone looking her way. 

"Okay," Kagome muttered to herself once she reached outside. She held the phone a small distance from her ear. 

_" -NO IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE, HAVE YOU? I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT -"_

Kagome took a deep breath and the small phone to her mouth. "Yuka, SHUT UP!" 

The screaming immediately stopped. Kagome gave a sigh of relief and held the phone closer to her ear. 

"Sorry about that," Kagome said. "Now, what are you yelling at me for?" 

"Wha - what I'm ye - I - ooh! Kagome!" Yuka whined. "You were supposed to meet me at the mall today, remember? You were suppose to help me pick out a dress for the spring ball!" 

Kagome's jaw dropped. She clapped her hand on her forehead, cursing herself for forgetting. "Oh no! Yuka, I'm so sorry!" Kagome said. "I honestly forgot -" 

"How could you forget? You promised me!" 

"I know, I know," Kagome said apologetically. "I just had so much on my mind today. Oh my God, Yuka, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to leave you at the mall all by yourself -" 

"Oh, I'm not alone," Yuka said blankly. 

"You're not?" 

"No, Eri's with me." 

"E-Eri's with you," Kagome stammered. 

"Mm-hm." 

"Ooh, Yuka!" Kagome said in frustration 

"What?" Yuka said, defensively. 

"Why did you call me then? If Eri's there, then she can help pick out a dress for you!" Kagome cried, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. 

"No! I need both of your opinions," Yuka protested. "You know I can't decide on anything unless I have at least two people's opinion! Where are you?" 

"I'm at the library." 

"Can't you come over? Just stop studying for like thirty minutes. For me, Kagome!" 

"I can't. My tutee will be here any minute. I can't just -" 

"Ditch him!" 

"No!" Kagome rubbed her forehead with her other hand wearily. "Okay, why don't you pick a dress with Eri, ask the store to hold it for you, and then tomorrow I'll come and tell you my opinion." 

"Oh," Yuka said faintly. "I didn't think of that." 

Kagome rolled her eyes. She loved Yuka, she really did, but she couldn't help but leave a little saddened by her friend's denseness. "Bye, Yuka." 

"No, wait. Eri needs to talk to you." 

Kagome sighed and sat down on a bench. She heard shuffling as Yuka handed Eri the phone before hearing her voice. 

"Hey, Kagome?" 

"Yeah, Eri." 

"Um, I was just wondering - well, actually I'm now pretty sure that you forgot about the National Honors Society meeting we had today." 

Kagome groaned. "Oh no...I can't believe this..." She ran a hand through her hair as she gave a heavy sigh. "And it was an important meeting today, wasn't it? Oh no...I totally forgot about that too." 

"Don't worry," Eri piped. "Ayumi took notes and stuff so she'll tell you everything tomorrow morning." 

"Oh, thank you so much," Kagome said weakly. "Tell Ayumi that too if you get the chance. Oh God, thank you, thank you, thank you!" 

There was a pause before Eri spoke again. "Kagome..." She said tentatively. "You sound really tired and stressed. Maybe you should take a break or something...or better yet, drop some clubs and classes -" 

"Are you kidding me? No way!" Kagome exclaimed. "I love all my clubs and classes. I can't possibly drop any of them." 

"But Kagome, I think...I think you're doing way too much," Eri said, concerned. "Really, you're killing yourself. You're going to crack, seriously...." 

"Oh, don't be silly. I'm doing just enough. Besides, if I drop anything, then I might not have a sufficient amount of things for college." 

"Well, it's not going to be worth much if you die before getting into college." 

"I'm not going to die, Eri," Kagome said. "Okay, I have to go now. I still have loads of homework to do..." 

"Okay," Eri said softly. "Take it easy, okay? 'Bye." Then she hung up with a soft click. 

Kagome held her phone back and stared at it for a moment before smiling. She appreciated Eri's concern, really, but she also found it a bit unnecessary. If she just managed her time well, everything would be all right. She wasn't going to crack. She wouldn't. 

Kagome tuck her phone into her pocket and walked back to the library. Once she past the entrance, her cell phone rang again. Madam Narita tapped her pencil impatiently. 

"Ms. Higurashi," She said. "Really, put your cellphone on silent if you insist leaving it on." 

"I know, I'm so sorry!" Kagome wailed softly before rushing back out to take her call. If whoever was calling didn't have a good reason for doing so, she was going to make them eat their shirt. 

Kagome gritted her teeth and popped her mobile phone open. "Hello?" 

................................. 

She stared grudgingly at her math homework. Her mind wasn't on it and it wasn't it that she was mad at. Actually, no, she _was_ mad at it but she was madder at herself. 

She couldn't believe it. How could this happen? This kind of thing never happened to her. She was always on top of things and she could never recall a time where she messed up. _How could this happen?_

How could she forget to go to three club meetings! Three! It was preposterous! Unforgivable! Just - just not possible! 

She _never_ missed club meetings! Never! It was just not her. Now she was going to be so behind and - God, life sucked. 

Well, that didn't take away from the fact that she still had a nice pile of Calculus problems to do. Kagome rubbed her eyes wearily and picked up her pencil. 

Just when she looked at the first problem, warm hands covered her eyes and a baritone voice whispered in her ear. "Guess who?" 

"Um, Santa Claus?" Kagome said somewhat hopefully. 

There was a low chuckle. "I find it amusing how you manage a different answer every time." 

Kagome grinned. "Hi Tetsuya." 

Her dark-haired and dark-eyed tutee walked from behind her and sat down next to her. 

He smiled back at her. "Sorry I'm a bit late. My coach kept me longer than expected." 

"It's all right." 

Tetsuya Mihara leaned over to see what his tutor was working on. He cringed. "Ooh, Calculus. Yuck." 

Kagome openly agreed, rubbing her face for the fifth time today. 

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking concerned. 

She waved him away. "Oh, I'm fine." 

"You look tired." 

"Er," Kagome shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I don't feel that tired." 

"What time did you go to sleep last night," he demanded. 

Kagome looked away guiltily. "Two in the morning..." 

"Kagome!" Tetsuya threw up his hands, exasperated. "You promised me that you would go to bed early." 

"I know, I know! But I had a lot a work to do that I couldn't -" 

"- Hold off any more," He finished for her. 

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "But things have been so hectic lately. My work pile has been doubling every week. I'm starting to miss crucial club meetings. My friends are mad at me because I don't have the time to hang out with them anymore. I'm barely having time to study for the upcoming exams. I -" Kagome cut herself off. She looked at Tetsuya and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling off here. I'm just being stupid and dumping everything on you." 

Tetsuya was looking at her with an odd expression on his handsome face. "No, it's okay. I kinda like it." 

Kagome blinked. Liked what? Her complaining? 

"Look Kagome, I know there's not much that I can say to change your mind. Just don't push yourself too hard; your brain will explode, and a brain-dead tutor isn't going to help me pass my English class. Now, let's start off with your Calculus," he said abruptly. 

"Wait, don't you have an English test tomorrow? We should review for that first -" 

"Don't worry about it," he said, scooting his chair closer to her. He gestured to her list of problems. "This stuff is easy anyways." 

Kagome smiled. It was funny how their relationship now was very different than it was several months ago when they first started as tutor and tutee. Their first few sessions were rather awkward since Tetsuya was a grade above her and the tutorial program did not have any other available tutor, so they were kind of stuck with each other. After a few sessions, they discovered that Math was Tetsuya's forte as it wasn't for Kagome. 

So it resulted as this: he would help her in Math as she would for him in English. They would both keep a low profile as tutor and tutee as Tetsuya was the school's soccer team's star player; and it would be hard to concentrate if any of Tetsuya's fans (mostly girls) were around during their tutorial sessions (and on the side, it was a bit embarrassing for the both of them that Tetsuya was a grade above her). Yet, how he managed to get here without any of his fans following him was something Kagome had yet to figure out. 

An hour and fifteen minutes later, Kagome successfully finished her Calculus homework and prepared Tetsuya for his English test. Ah, yes. This feeling of accomplishment was very uplifting. Kagome: 1; World: 0. She was ready to run around waving banners of celebration. 

"Ughhh," Tetsuya groaned as he tilted his chair back on two legs. "You fried all of my brain cells, Kagome." 

"Good, that means you're prepared now." Kagome pulled him back so his chair was on all fours. "And don't do that, it's dangerous. And also, I heard Mr. Kitsugari's tests are really difficult." 

Tetsuya wrinkled his nose at the mention of his English teacher. "As he himself is a slimy git." 

Kagome chuckled and glanced at her watch. "It's about 5:45. Well that concludes our tutorial session. I have to get home now, I still got loads to do." 

"It's Friday, Kagome. Tomorrow we only have school for half the day. Nothing important happens on Saturdays." 

"You have an English test tomorrow," Kagome pointed out. 

"Again, Mr. Kitsugari is a slimy git," Tetsuya said. "You'll still have a lot of time." 

Kagome smiled and patted his arm. "We'll see." 

She started to collect all of her loose papers and sorted them in a neat pile. She was reaching for her Math book when Tetsuya spoke up. 

"So, has anyone asked you to the spring ball?" 

Kagome looked up, surprised at the sudden change of topic. He was gathering his English worksheets, and he looked up at her when she had not replied. 

"Um, no," she said and sighed. "But it almost seems that it almost seems that someone has considering all the work I'm doing for it." 

"Ah, that's right. You're going to help with the set up, right?" 

Kagome nodded. "And Yuka's pretty keen in having me help her prepare for everything," she added. 

Tetsuya smiled. "Well, then you might as well attend." 

"But then I would have to go with someone." 

"Yeah, so?" 

She gave him a funny look as she put her Math book in her bag. "Who would I go with?" 

Tetsuya's smile grew wider. "You could go with me." 

Kagome dropped the calculator that was in her hand and it clattered back onto the table, but she paid it no attention. "What?" 

Tetsuya cocked his head adorably. "Come to the ball with me." 

"W-Why?" 

Tetsuya's face went blank. "Uh, because then it would be kind of weird if I went and didn't bring my date with me." 

"Oh, no - I mean, why me?" Kagome said quickly, turning slightly pink. 

Tetsuya gave her a cocky grin. "Because I like you." 

Oh dear, how blunt. Kagome could feel herself turning pinker. Mixed emotions were fluttering like wild butterflies in her stomach. Was she flattered? Only a lot. Was she speechless? At the moment, she was totally lost for words, which was a first. 

Tetsuya chuckled and as if reading her mind, he said, "You just have to say yes or no." 

Kagome blushed, embarrassed. "Oh, um, right. Well - um, I-" She said, stumbling over her words. _Oh, come on,_ she told herself. _This isn't a hard question to answer. Just say yes, you nitwit! You know you want to go with him!_

"Er, I guess - um, yes." 

His eyes immediately brightened. "Really?" 

Kagome bit her lip and nodded. Tetsuya broke into a huge toothy smile like a little kid. He looked like he was going to jump up and let out a whoop. Instead, he stood up, gathered all of the remaining of his things, and lifted his bag over his shoulder (all the while, smiling like a fool). 

He gave her a breath-taking smile and said, "I'll see you tomorrow then." 

Kagome nodded (having trouble finding her voice). She had expected him to leave but instead, he stood there looking at her with the same odd expression that he had on his face earlier. She was about to ask him what was wrong (once she found her voice, which was...very doubtful) when he leaned over, his face nearing hers. 

Kagome blinked. What in the world was he doing? His face inched closer. She frowned. Was there something on her face? 

Oh, dear. Wait, a little too close now. She have could count his eyelashes. Um, very close now, too close for comfort. What - 

Oh. 

Oh, my. 

........................... 

Once she was outside the library and a good distance from anyone who might hear her, Kagome let out a squeal of delight. She let out a joyous giggle as she danced down the sidewalk. She lifted her head high to the sky with a goofy smile. She had never appreciated how beautiful this day was. 

Kagome looked cautiously around her again, double-checking that no one was close enough to her to hear her. After she established that, she let now a louder squeal. 

_I kissed Tetsuya! I_ kissed_ Tetsuya Mihara!_

Kagome couldn't help but feel a little proud that she had just done something that she knew was on a ton of girls' wish lists. If she knew, she would be doing back flips all the way home. But she didn't know how, so she started skipping instead. 

She glanced at her watch. It was nearly six. Oh crap. 

Kagome just remembered that her mother had called her just after school to tell her that her grandfather had food poisoning. Mrs. Higurashi was going to stay with her father at the hospital and requested that Kagome get home as soon as possible to take care of her little brother in her absence. Souta would be home by now. 

Kagome swore silently to herself, temporarily forgetting the light, silly emotions she was feeling earlier. She switched her heavy bag to her other shoulder and hurried down the sidewalk. 

The bushes rustled behind her. 

Kagome stopped and turned her head. The bushes had stopped rustling. Leaves fell to the ground from the disturbed bushes. Kagome backtracked and saw that nothing was there. She frowned. For a split second, she could have sworn she saw a flash of red and white... 

She shook it off, blaming her imagination for getting carried away and walked quickly back home. 

................................. 

Souta was finally in bed. 

Praise the Lord. 

It took a little persuading ("Souta, turn off the video games NOW!"), but Souta obediently went to bed ("Just five more minutes, sis - Ah! Okay, okay! I'm saving the game right now! Just DON'T press that power button!"). Kagome 'hmphed' in satisfaction, seeing that Souta was tucked neatly in bed. She turned and was about to leave her little brother's room when he called out. 

"Wait, sis." 

She turned around. "What is it?" 

"Can you tell me a story?" 

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a little too old for that?" 

"Well, it's 9:30 and I'm in bed," Souta said grudgingly. "None of that really matters now. Besides," he added. "You can never be too old for stories." 

Kagome smiled. "Alright." She pulled a chair next to Souta's bedside. "What's story shall it be tonight?" 

Souta's eye brightened and he sat upright. "Can you tell one that has a lot of fighting, and pirates, and demons, and shooting, and magicking and all that good stuff?" he asked eagerly. 

Kagome stared blankly at her brother. She should seriously start looking over those video games he had been playing excessively. But 'pirates' rang a bell in her mind. 

"Have I ever told the story about Peter Pan?" 

Souta sank disappointingly back into his pillow. "I already know that story." 

"Oh, well then I guess we can think of another -" 

"No," Souta interrupted earnestly. "Your version might be better than the one I know," he said as he snuggled under covers. 

Kagome smiled. "Alright." 

She then started the story about the boy who never grew up. 

Thirty minutes later, Kagome was in the midst of telling Souta that the evil Captain Hook was forcing Wendy to walk off the plank. Souta was so engrossed in the story that he jumped when the wind whistled outside of his bedroom, blowing leaves through the open window. 

Kagome frowned at the window. She could've sworn she had closed it. She walked over to it and stuck her head out of it. Did she just see a flash of white? Kagome rubbed her eyes and looked again. 

Nothing. 

Kagome blinked. Maybe she was getting too involved with this story. She looked over to Souta's 'Megaman' clock as she shut the window closed. _10:00._ It was getting late. She went back to Souta and fixed his covers. 

Souta looked at her, appalled, realizing that she intended to discontinue telling the story. "You're not going to stop _now_, are you?" 

"It's late, Souta..." 

"But Wendy's just about to walk off the plank! You can't stop here! It's - it's inhumane!" 

Kagome cocked an eyebrow, also a little surprised that her little brother knew the word 'inhumane.' 

"I have a lot of work to do. I'll finish the story tomorrow, I promise." She pecked him lightly on the forehead. "Now go to sleep." 

She turned off his lamplight; everything was dark except for the moonlight that shone through the window. She stopped by his door and turned around. She leaned against the frame and looked back lovingly at the already sleeping lump in the 'Digimon' covered bed. Of all the frustrations that he made her feel and all the arguments that they've been through, that little lump always managed to make her let go of her anger and care about him. 

But, it was strange. She couldn't shake off this feeling of apprehension that was lurking in the back of her mind. She knew she was going to see him the next morning, eyes half opened and hair sticking in all directions. But something told her that wouldn't be the case. 

Wait, what was she thinking? What was making her feeling those things? Kagome shook her head and sighed. She brushed it off; she was just being silly. It was late, of course she would be thinking stupid things. 

She told Souta good night and closed the door. Kagome sighed. Now it was back to work. She had two projects to finish along with another nice fat pile of homework. She had to finish some paperwork for three clubs and draw some suggestions for the spring ball. The list just kept on going. 

Kagome began calculating the time she would need on each assignment when she heard the phone ring. She rushed down the stairs and quickly picked it up. "Hello?" 

"Hello, this is Mrs. Katsumori. Is this Kagome Higurashi?" 

"Ah, yes," Kagome said, immediately recognizing her homeroom teacher's strict voice. 

"I apologize for calling so late at night, but I just received some...unexpected news." 

Kagome sat down on the sofa next to her. "Yes?" 

"Ms. Higurashi, if you plan on missing any more club meetings, I suggest you drop them!" Mrs. Katsumori said. 

Kagome jumped slightly. "I'm sorry, Ms. Katsumori, I -" 

"Was there a family emergency, Ms. Higurashi? Or did you simply forget?" 

"Um...I..." 

"Well?" She said sharply. 

"I forgot..." Kagome said quietly, feeling very small. She heard Mrs. Katsumori sigh over the phone. 

"Kagome," she said wearily. "You want to get into Tokyo University, correct? And you want to major in biology as well as enter their five-year program, right? There's a reason why very few students succeed in that path you chose, Kagome. I can not stress enough how difficult and competitive it is. You _can not_ afford to miss any more meetings. _Every single thing_ counts. Those clubs are crucial to your college application to Tokyo University. I've even heard that you've recently been late to many of them." 

"Well...yes, but I've been really busy and it's been difficult -" 

"Ms. Higurashi, when you first came to me to talk about the path you chose for your college future, I told you it would be difficult - no, excruciatingly difficult. Do not tell me that you just realized that now." 

"No, of course not! I just -" 

"Tokyo University's five-year program only accepts the best of the best, Kagome. At the rate you are going, I can not see you in the future that you want. Unless you find a way to catch up, I suggest you choose an alternate path." 

Kagome remained silent. It felt like someone had just slapped her in the face. Hard. 

"I'm sorry, Ms. Higurashi," Mrs. Katsumori said, this time more gently. "But I can not be lenient in this matter. Good night." 

"Good night," Kagome said in a strained voice. Mrs. Katsumori hung up. 

Kagome's grip on her phone tightened as she pulled it away from her ear. She started shaking as she tried to control her anger. But, she couldn't take it anymore. 

She jumped to her feet and threw the cordless phone back onto its receiver. But the impact was too great. The phone bounced off and clattered to the floor. Kagome ignored it. She wheeled around and sat back down in the sofa, breathing heavily. She made an angry sound and ran her hands through her hair. 

Did Mrs. Katsumori have _any_ idea what she was going through? Because it certainly felt like she didn't! No one understood what she was going through. No one understood the many things she had to do. 

Kagome glanced at the coffee table, where the phone was suppose to be, and spotted something she didn't recognized. She reached for it. 

_Mom got a new picture frame,_ she thought to herself. 

Her eyes settled on the picture itself. It was an old one, probably a couple of years old. It was of their family: her, Mom, Souta, Grandpa, and Buyo, their cat. Kagome suddenly wondered when the last time her family got together was. She frowned in disappointment when she realized that she couldn't remember. She put the picture frame back. 

_I've been so busy. I can't even remember these kinds of things._

Kagome fell back into the sofa and stared up at the ceiling, quietly wondering what she had gotten herself into. She then recalled earlier today when Eri had suggested that she drop some clubs and classes and she had said that she couldn't, because she loved them all too much. Did she really? Was that what she really felt? Or was that what she wanted to feel? 

Despite her harsh words, maybe Mrs. Katsumori was right. Maybe she should choose an alternate path. She had nailed it so hard into her head to go to Tokyo University and get into their five-year program for biology. Had she blinded herself to other opportunities that would have been better for her? Everytime she began to feel disheartened by the day's workload, it felt more like she had to convince herself that she loved these things than anything else. 

Kagome stood up wearily. She picked up the phone from the ground and placed it gently back onto its receiver. Even if she wanted to back out like she did now, it was too late. She was in too deep and she had to finish what she started. 

Kagome climbed back up the stairs and reached her slightly opened bedroom door when she heard rustling coming from inside. She frowned. It couldn't be Buyo. Even though her cat was, er, slightly obese, he still managed to walk around without making too much noise. Whatever was inside was too big to be a cat. 

Kagome backed away precariously and went into the nearest room: her grandfather's. She spotted a golf club. Perfect. 

She grabbed it and approached her room again, cautiously. Nervous and afraid, Kagome took a deep breath, raised the golf club, and kicked the door open. 

Her eyes searched the room and spotted a boy standing by her dresser. He was looking curiously at her music box and was opening it. But it only managed to open halfway. Once he saw her, he snatched his hand away letting the lid close with a loud snap. He jumped away from it and hid his hands behind his back like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. 

What struck her the most was his peculiar appearance. He wore a red one-strap tunic over a sleeveless black one with a white sash around his waist, along with creamy white pants and knee-high black boots. He had black wristbands on both wrists (along with a pair of _very_ nice looking arms), and hanging from his neck was some kind of pocket watch. She wanted to give it a closer look but something else caught her attention. His long hair was gorgeous and white, making Kagome feel inferior and silly with her dark tresses. And his eyes were two pools of gold that strangely lacked any luster. On top his head (Kagome's shoulders tensed) were two white fluffy dog-ears. Living in a shrine, Kagome knew that meant only one thing. 

Youkai. 

"Who are you?" she demanded, trying hard not show her growing fear. "What are you doing in my room?" 

"Umm." From the sound of his voice and from the look of him, the boy didn't look any older than eighteen. The boy's eyes darted around the room and settled on the lamp on her desk. "I was looking for my shadow," he said lamely. 

Kagome gave him an odd look. Looking for his what? His shadow was right there - oh. White hair. 

_Opened window. The flash of white._

It was him. He was listening in when she was telling the story of Peter Pan. Hence, the shadow thing. 

Kagome felt a cool breeze and realized that her window, too, was opened, explaining how the boy accessed her room. She really needed to start locking the windows more often... 

Kagome's eyes darted back to the boy. "What are you doing in my room? You should know that there are severe punishments for youkai who break into other people's homes." 

The boy looked at her strangely. "But I didn't break anything. The window was unlocked." 

"That doesn't make anything better," she said angrily. "You're trespassing on my property. Get out or I'll call the police." 

"Huh? Polee?" He gave her a funny look. "Oh, I suppose that's what you call your law enforcers, eh?" 

Kagome stared at him, her fear slowly slipping away. Did he not know what police were? She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, feeling confused as well. 

He looked at her, smiling cockily. "In that case, why didn't you call them earlier? You seemed to know that I was here," he said, gesturing to her golf club. 

Good question. _Why_ hadn't she called the police? 

Kagome hastily brushed it off. Whatever, it didn't matter. Right now, what did matter was that there was a strange youkai boy in her room and she wanted him out. 

When she did not answer him, the boy smirked and started walking around her room. Kagome's eyes followed him; she felt both wary and curious. He stopped at the glass cabinet near her bed. He leaned forward with a scrutinizing eye at her collection of sprite statues. He drew back, scrunching his nose in disgust, muttering something that sounded like "so girly". 

As he wandered around her room, Kagome looked closer at the pocket watch around his neck. She realized that it wasn't a pocket watch. It was some kind of round bronze-colored metal case that had some kind of gold-colored bracket that sealed it closed. In the middle of the case was glass circle, like a window. Behind the glass, was an hourglass with grains of sand inside. Kagome instantly wondered why the boy carried such a trinket. 

She hardly had any time to really ponder now that the boy was about to open the lid of her laundry basket. 

She went over and jabbed the golf club threateningly at him. "Get out," she ordered. 

The boy jerked his head back to avoid the club. "Hey, watch it," he said. "You could hurt someone with that." 

He pushed the end of the golf club away from his face. Kagome pushed it defiantly back. The boy showed a hint of surprise before his lips curled into a smirk and he yanked the golf club easily out of hands, and tossed it aside. He looked back at her pompously as if daring her to do something rash. 

Kagome blinked, feeling a bit dumbfounded. She glanced at his face and seeing his jaunty grin made her want to do something to wipe it right off. Then, she had an idea. 

Kagome opened her mouth to scream her lungs out. But before she could even make a sound, Kagome found herself slammed against her dresser with the boy's hand clamped tightly over her mouth. 

"What the fuck are you trying to do?" he hissed. 

"I'm trying to cry for help," she tried to say, but with his hand over her mouth, it came out, "Mm traing ter cru fu ulp." 

"Well, don't! I haven't done anything to you yet!" 

Kagome just stared at him defiantly. The boy glanced at her window before swinging his gaze by to her. 

"Okay, how about this, I'll let you go but you have to promise not to scream. I'll give that stick thing back too. So you'll be armed and I won't be, okay?" he tried to compromise. His voice sounded strained. 

"Tir woont muter burcoo ir un yoca (It wouldn't matter because you're a youkai)!" 

"Half." 

"Erm?" 

"I'm only half youkai. I'm a Hanyou," he said. 

"Wur durferince dur irk nak (What difference does it make)?!" 

He gave her an odd expression. There was a short pause before he spoke again. 

"Well," he said, a little awkwardly. "If I hurt or touch you in anyway, you can scream bloody murder all you want." 

Kagome gave him a skeptical look. 

"Okay?" he said and slowly drew his hand away. Seeing that she wasn't making a sound, the boy backed a good distance away from her. 

Kagome immediately snatched the golf club from the ground and held it between them. The boy stared at her weapon warily but didn't do anything. 

"I want you to leave," she said firmly. 

The boy simpered conceitedly. "Do you really?" 

"Of course I do!" Kagome said incredulously. What reason did she have to not? 

The boy 'hmphed' and walked casually by her desk. He peered at the pile of papers that were scattered over it. 

"I see you've been busy -" 

Kagome huffed, "Of course I have -" 

"- and stressed, and frustrated," he said with a smug smile. 

She clenched her teeth and swung the club down to her side. "You don't know what you're talking about." 

"Yeah, I do," he said as he strutted around her room again, picking up some of her stuff to examine it before putting it down again. "You're always having so much to do. You always have tons of schoolwork and projects that you never have the time to do. You have all these clubs whose meetings you're starting to miss. You spend most of your time cooped up in your room doing school stuff and club shit, and if you're not in your room, you're at school for more club stuff. You don't have time for your family or your friends anymore," he smiled triumphantly. "You're a workaholic and you're at your breaking point." 

Suddenly Kagome felt very angry. Normally, she wouldn't but now, she felt enraged. "Don't talk like you under -" Then she realized. "Wait, how do you know all of that? I don't even know you!" 

"I was following you today," he said, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal. 

"Following...?" 

_For a split second, she could have sworn she saw a flash of red and white._

Kagome's eyes widened. "Y-you've been f-following me?!" she sputtered. "Y-you, stalker!" 

The hanyou glared at her, looking outraged that she would say such a thing. "I have NOT been stalking you! I only started following you today!" 

Oh, and so that was supposed to make the situation better then? 

"Fine, why have you been following me then?!" she asked angrily. 

"I - well, I was -" he stuttered. He fumed and looked away. "That's not important." 

Not important?! How can it NOT be important?! 

Kagome stared at him incredulously. This guy... 

She sighed tiredly. She did not have the time to deal with this right now. It was 10:45 and if she didn't start working now, she'll have little to no sleep. She could make this situation less a problem than it had to be. 

"What's your name?" Kagome asked. 

The boy looked like he wasn't going to tell her, but instead he wheeled around and started looking at her stuff again. "Inuyasha," he said briskly. 

"Look, Inuyasha," she said, walking to her desk. "Just leave, okay? I have a lot of work to do. If you go now, I won't report you to the police or anything. I'll forget that this ever happened. So I'm going to sit at my desk and when I turn around, you'll be gone, okay?" 

Kagome sat down without waiting for his reply. She silently counted to ten and was about to turn around to see if he was still there. Before she could, his voice whispered into her ear, "I can take you away from here." 

He was still here. Kagome clenched her hand into a tight fist and considered punching him. Then his words sank in. 

Kagome turned around, surprised to find his face only inches away from hers. But neither of them moved away. 

She stared straight into his golden eyes. "What do you mean?" 

Inuyasha grinned cockily. He moved back and stood up straight, towering over her. "I can take you away from here," he repeated. "I can take you to a place where you'll never have to do any of this crap again," he said, gesturing to the workload on her desk. Then his voice started to have a hint of excitement. "There, none of it will ever matter. You'll be happy and you'll be free, totally free." 

For a minute, Kagome considering jumping into his arms crying, "Yes! Yes, please take me away from this hellhole!" But...she couldn't possibly leave all of this behind. It was something that she just had to do. 

Kagome snorted, "Don't be silly. I would never leave this." 

Inuyasha scoffed. "Oh come on. Aren't you even a bit tempted?" 

She was, but she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction... 

But it seemed that by saying nothing would give him it anyhow. He smirked and walked back to her window. He turned around, his white hair glowed under the moonlight. 

"Come on," he urged. "Come with me and you'll never have to think about school, clubs, or anything like that again." 

His offer was tempting. Part of her was screaming at her to stand up and go with him, but the other part of her was just as reluctant. If he could take her away, wouldn't it be selfish? If she left, someone else would have to take the burden she left behind. Could she really do that to someone else? 

As if reading her mind, Inuyasha said, "You've done enough already. Don't you think it's about time you did something for yourself? Just for yourself?" 

It was as if her body was moving on its own. Soon she found herself walking toward him. 

Inuyasha smiled triumphantly. He turned around and climbed onto the windowsill, part of his body outside. 

They were going out the window? Oh, that would be the better idea. Some of the stairs creaked and the sound might wake Souta. Kagome gave a small gasp. That's right. Souta... 

Kagome turned around and looked around her room. If she went with Inuyasha, she would be leaving all of this, her family, and - Kagome's heart sank as she realized this - Tetsuya. 

There was a chance of something starting up between them. If she left now, she might lose that opportunity and...she really wanted to see if anything..._could_ happen... 

Kagome felt Inuyasha's breath brush her ear as he leaned in to whisper in it. 

"If you don't leave now, girl, you'll break. You'll surely break," he said softly. "I'm giving you a chance to save yourself, to get away from all of this. You'll _never_ have to come back." 

"Never's an awfully long time," she said quietly as she turned around to look at him. 

Inuyasha smiled and held out his hand to her. "Come with me." 

_"Come to the ball with me."_

Kagome frowned and took a reluctant step back. "I-I can't. There's...a guy that -" 

Inuyasha made a loud sound of disbelief and didn't even try to not laugh at her. "A guy?" he cried, making Kagome feel very stupid. "Oh come on. What do you think you're playing at?" 

"What do you mean? I like him!" she said, blushing. "And - and he likes me, so..." 

He looked at her squarely in the eye. "Really, girl, let's be realistic. How long do you really think it's going to last? You barely have time for your family and your friends. What makes you think you'll have time for a guy?" 

Kagome bit her lip. She didn't want to believe it; every fiber of her body didn't want to believe it, but he was right, wasn't he? 

"Besides," he continued, "he looks like the type of guy who's pretty popular, right?" He took her silence for a yes. "How long do you think he'll want to stay with you? I mean, a bunch of girls like him, right? So why should he put any effort into a relationship with girl who doesn't have the time for him when he's got a whole stack of girls who are just dying to be with him?" 

"He wouldn't do that," Kagome protested. "He cares about me, so he would try and so would I -" 

"Oh, please, use your brain, girl," he said derisively. "If this guy really cares about you, why doesn't he stop you from all of that," he gestured to the workload on her desk again, "when you know you want to? I mean, he's not trying very hard now is he?" 

"H-He just doesn't understand completely -" 

He interrupted her. "But he doesn't try to, now does he? And more importantly, you want him to, don't you?" 

She wanted to slap him. She wanted to slap him so hard because...he was right. 

She tried again. "Well, m-my family -" 

"In the last couple of months that you've been...laboring over your ridiculous amount of workload, they didn't really try to stop you either, have they?" 

That was because she never let them knew. She didn't want them to worry... 

But Kagome stayed quiet. 

"There's nothing for you here," he said, more gently. "There's nothing you can get out of here. Come with me and you'll be so much better off." 

"So...what is this place?" 

He smiled. "It's...a wonderful place." His eyes glowed with pride. "The people there are truly happy. There's no such thing as prejudice or anything like that crap." He grinned. "And there's women and drinks everywhere - er - well, the women part probably doesn't interest you. The land is rich and - no, the best part...is the open sea. Nothing can define freedom as well as the sea. You can go anywhere you want and there's nothing that can hold you back." 

The more he described this place of his...the more suspicious Kagome became. This offer seemed almost...too good. 

"Why are you helping me?" she asked abruptly. 

Inuyasha scoffed and smiled. "Do you really need a reason to help someone?" 

Kagome raised her eyebrows, showing she wasn't satisfied with just that answer. 

He looked at her for a moment, contemplating something. "All right, I'll be honest with you." He folded his arms. "I'm looking for something. I was led to you so apparently, you're the person who can help me." 

"How can I help you?" she asked, confused. 

"I don't know. Like you said, we just met, right?" he smiled cockily. "Maybe you know or have something that can help me." He looked at her more seriously. "I don't think meeting you was by chance. I think you can really help me, and luckily, I can help you. So what do you say?" 

"I don't know," she said frankly. "I think I'll need more time to think about it." 

Inuyasha glanced quickly at the moon behind him and his face suddenly grew worried. 

"Look," he said a bit more harshly. "I don't actually have a lot of time left." 

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Kagome said abruptly. His offer was too good. There had to be something that he wasn't letting her know. 

"What?" Inuyasha's face contorted angrily at the fact that she was asking those kinds of questions _now_, but Kagome ignored it. 

"How do I know there isn't some catch? There has to some downside -" 

"I don't have time to explain everything to you, okay?" he said impatiently. "I just - all I can make clear now is that I can take you out of this shithole, okay?" 

Kagome looked even more unconvinced and took another step back. 

Inuyasha's eyes darted back to the half-moon before they settled firmly at her. It didn't seem like that he was willing to leave without her. Why did he need her so badly? 

"Just - okay, look. Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?" he asked in a tone that sounded like he was trying very hard to maintain what patience he had left. 

"What, besides from following me and breaking into my home? Yeah, I guess not," Kagome said smartly. 

Inuyasha's eye twitched. "Okay, aside from that, I didn't hurt or touch or anything like I promised, right?" He looked worriedly at the moon behind him. He thrust his opened hand in front of her. "Do you trust me?" 

"What? Well, considering that I just met you," Kagome started indignantly. "I think that question is rather -" 

"Do you trust me?!" 

"I -" 

Kagome bit her lip and her breathing started to quicken as she began to feel panicked. She couldn't answer. Not now that she couldn't think straight. She felt as if a mountain of pressure had just dropped onto her shoulders. Her mind felt jumbled and she couldn't think clearly. She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped that she was making the right decision. 

Kagome slipped her hand into Inuyasha's. 

"Yes." 

* * *

AN: Well. That was an awfully long first chapter, no? Usually, my first chapters are pretty short. Oh, yes. And if you have read my fic 'The Gathering of the Lons' and hate me horribly for not updating, please refer to my bio. I have found the solution to the problem. So, yay! So if you like this chapter, the first ever of 'The Broken Horn,' please review! So then I know continuing this story is a good thing and I'm not just wasting space! 

Oh, does Inuyasha seemed...I don't know...a little OOC? I mean, he's smart enough to be manipulative right? 

...Right? 

(is met by silence) 

...Aww, man...


	2. Ghost Town

AN: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter could have gone out last week but I had a little email problem with my beta-reader. But it's all good now.

* * *

**The Broken Horn **

**Chapter 2 **

**Ghost Town**

* * *

It happened immediately. The moment she said, "Yes," she was suddenly jerked unceremoniously forward. Her feet left the ground and she was suddenly speeding forward in a howling wind and swirling color. Her vision was strangely blurred yet she could barely make out Inuyasha's figure. But she could feel his hand tightly holding hers, pulling her onward. Suddenly her feet slammed into the ground; Kagome staggered and fell over.

She looked up. Inuyasha was still standing, though he looked slightly windswept. He looked down at her, raising his eyebrow in a patronizing manner. Then, he threw something in her direction and turned away. It landed near her head with a heavy thud. It was her school bag.

Kagome sat upright and pulled her bag closer. She frowned, unable to recall Inuyasha ever taking her bag. _He must've taken it at last minute when I wasn't looking_, she thought. She looked up at Inuyasha, about to ask why when -

"That took too long," Inuyasha grumbled to himself. Then he looked at her. "Stay here," he ordered.

Kagome waited for him to explain further, like where they were, why she had to stay, or at least say something more. And did he? Well, if turning around and disappearing around the corner meant, "shut up, be quiet, and don't move from that spot," then, yes, in a way he did.

Kagome looked curiously around her. Well, there weren't many words to describe the place she was in.

Brown. Rocks. Everywhere.

She was in some sort of large cave tunnel. The ground was worn from being walked on by many feet. On the walls were lit torches but they stopped about several meters from where she sat. Beyond that was just darkness.

Kagome popped open a small pocket of her bag, pulled out a pocky stick, and absently sucked on it. As she did, she wondered, how did they get here? Just three minutes ago, she was standing in her room. Maybe one of Inuyasha's demon abilities was speed? But he was a hanyou, that ability would be only half of a full youkai. So how could he take her from her room to what seemed to be near the end of a long tunnel under the time span of two minutes? Kagome looked to where Inuyasha had disappeared to as she wondered.

Kagome gasped and jumped to her feet, her pocky falling wastefully to the ground. Where had Inuyasha disappeared to - had he just _abandoned_ her?!

Kagome's mouth opened and closed soundlessly like a fish, unable to express her outrage in words.

How _could_ he?! Here she was, dumped in an entirely different and unfamiliar place, and he just _left_ her? Courtesy was definitely not a word in this guy's vocabulary.

'Stay here'...like hell she was going to 'stay here.'

Kagome threw her bag over her shoulder and was about to go after Inuyasha when he reappeared before her. With a knapsack hanging from his shoulder, he was tucking something inside his tunic. He blinked at her, surprised to see that she had not obeyed him.

"Where do you think you're going? I told you to stay, didn't I?" he said. Not waiting for her to answer, Inuyasha took a torch from the wall and gave her another order. "Follow me." He proceeded down the tunnel, not sparing her even a hint of a glance.

Kagome clenched and then unclenched her fist. Really now! He wasn't like this before. When he was telling her she deserved so much more, he at least showed some sort of concern towards her. Now? Nada. Zip.

Well, maybe she was judging him too quickly. She had just met him so calling him horrible and rude wouldn't be fair. Besides, he did seem keen to get out of here and she too, didn't want to stay in this strange tunnel, so the best thing would be to get along with him. It looked like she was going to be stuck with him for a while, and first impressions weren't everything -

"Hey, girl, I wanna get out of here, so do you mind picking up your feet?"

_'First impressions aren't everything...first impressions aren't everything...'_

Kagome schooled a smile on her face. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and hurried after him. He was just in a hurry to get out. That was all. That was definitely the reason. Once they got out, he would definitely go to the nice and caring person he really was. She was sure of it. Look - he even got her bag for her. He did it so she would have a little piece of home with her. He obviously brought the bag for her sake.

"So what did you bring my bag for?" she asked, wanting to confirm her assumption.

"What? Oh." Inuyasha looked over his shoulder before facing back forward. "Well, I wasn't sure if the thing I needed was you, or something that you had, or something you had that only you could use, so on and so on. But I figured that if it were a thing, then it would probably be something that you would carry with you all the time. And you carry that bag a lot so I brought it along just in case."

So he didn't exactly bring it just for her sake...

Suddenly he stopped and one of his ears twitched. Abruptly, he started to pick up his pace - a pace that she had even more trouble keeping up with.

"Hey, wait!" she said, but he didn't - he walked faster. "Inuyasha! Hey, Inuyasha! Wait!" she said, this time, louder. Suddenly, a small tremor ran through the ground and a few rocks broke free from the walls.

Inuyasha wheeled around. "Keep it down," he hissed. "This tunnel is very old. If you're too loud, it'll collapse and we'll be buried alive. Now hurry up." He waited for her to catch up before he set off again. Kagome had to jog a little bit to stay on his heels.

"Sorry," she said, careful to keep her voice down. Accidentally breathing in some of the dust that had been roiled up from the tremor, Kagome scratched her nose.

"So where are we?"

"We're in a tunnel."

She wanted to hit him. Oh, no wait, she had to sneeze first.

Kagome jumped a little, surprised to hear her sneeze echo throughout the tunnel. Inuyasha stiffened. There was several seconds of silence before a faint rumbling sound could be heard.

Kagome nervously inched closer towards Inuyasha. "Ummm...."

The rumbling grew louder. Kagome let out a small gasp as the ground beneath her began to shake.

Inuyasha wheeled around angrily. "What'd you go sneezing for?" he scowled.

"Hey, I didn't do it on purpose!" she retorted as the rumbling grew even louder. "I didn't know my sneeze would -"

Suddenly Inuyasha grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him. She heard something heavy thud behind her. She turned around and saw a large rock where she was just standing seconds before.

"Come on," Inuyasha said over the loud rumbling as he started running down the tunnel.

Rocks and dirt rained from the ceiling. Kagome covered her head with her arms to protect it. But she was having more trouble keeping with Inuyasha's pace. He was going too fast and she knew he was slowing down for her.

A rock dropped in front of her, one big enough for her to trip over. She was about to fall right into Inuyasha when he whipped around and caught her deftly with his free arm. His head turned to look forward, his expression worried.

"We're not going to make it in time at this pace."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Kagome huffed, starting to get annoyed. "I just can't keep up with -"

Suddenly he turned away from her and crouched down on the shaking ground. "Get on," he shouted.

Kagome blinked, surprised. "What?"

Inuyasha turned his head, looking extremely irritated. "I said, 'get on'! Get on my back, you stupid girl!"

Kagome was hesitant at first before she climbed onto his back. He handed her the torch.

"Hold it high so I can see where the hell I'm going," he told her. Then he sprinted off.

Maybe he wasn't that bad. She was definitely judging him too early. He wasn't that bad of a guy, offering to carry her and all.

Well, that was until she heard his mutter, "Stupid humans. So damn slow."

Hm, she spoke too soon.

But they were going fast. Very fast. Everything was whizzing past in a brown blur as Inuyasha zigzagged through, miraculously avoiding the large rocks that would be fatal if they hit their living targets.

Then Kagome saw moonlight. Her hopes soared

Their exit was near! It was just meters away!

But just as quickly, Kagome's hopes plummeted as she saw the cave opening start to collapse at an alarming rate. They weren't going to make it. Even that this speed they would be a few seconds too late - but then Inuyasha pushed off the ground with a sudden burst of energy, and they shot out of the opening before it caved in completely.

Inuyasha skidded to a halt and they watched as the last bit of cave opening vanished under the last tumble of rocks. The rumbling stopped and the ground ceased to shake. All was quiet.

Inuyasha plucked the still-flaming torch out of Kagome's hand and promptly dropped her to the ground.

"Ow!" With a pained look, Kagome rubbed her rear but Inuyasha paid her no attention.

Kagome was just pushing herself to her feet when Inuyasha threw his knapsack at her. The impact made her fall back again.

"Hold it, will ya?" He said, not really asking. "And don't lose it, girl."

"My name is Kagome," she said.

Inuyasha shrugged, "Whatever."

But Kagome wasn't finished. "And really - if you want me to do something for you, you should at least treat me a bit nice - hey! I'm talking to you!"

Inuyasha turned away and proceeded down the dirt path. He didn't hear her or was simply ignoring her. Most likely the latter.

Kagome fumed. On the first opportunity she got, she was going to throw a bag at him. Both bags. Hard.

Inuyasha turned his head. "Hurry up, woman!"

"It's Kagome!"

"Yeah, whatever. Just hurry up or I'm leaving you behind."

Kagome stood up, brushed the dirt off her jeans, ground a pebble (pretending it was Inuyasha's head) with her foot, and hoisted Inuyasha's sack over her shoulder. Once she reached him, Inuyasha turned and resumed walking down the path. She was about to ask him about their whereabouts when she saw a town not too far away. When they entered it, Kagome saw how dark, old, and very creepy it was.

The buildings were slowly falling apart, windows were cracked or broken, and the cobblestone street was dusty and cold. Signs creaked in the soft wind on their rusty chains. Stores held dusty merchandise. Lampposts held no kindred flames. The town seemed empty. Abandoned.

"This looks like a ghost town," Kagome said softly.

"It is," Inuyasha said.

"Where are we exactly?" She asked.

"We're in Gunon Town. We just came out of...well, what was Afina's Cavern."

Kagome frowned. "I never heard of this place."

"Of course you haven't," Inuyasha said absently. "It's not in your world, now is it?"

"What?" Kagome said sharply.

"I said," Inuyasha looked at her, annoyed that he had to repeat himself, "'Of course you haven't. It's not in your wor -'"

"What do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean 'what do I mean'? I meant exactly what I said."

"S-So you're saying...we're not on Earth?" Her voice was starting to shake.

"No. We're on Gaea. Don't you kn - Oh, wait." Inuyasha blinked, as if he just realized. "Oh, that's right. You _don't_ know."

Kagome's eyes were as wide as saucers. She was shocked beyond comprehension. She - well - this - How could this be?!

"That's not possible!" Kagome said. Her head was swimming. It wasn't logical! She couldn't understand how anything like this could happen!

"I beg to differ," Inuyasha said. "Now that it has happened, it kind of is possible."

"H-How?!"

"Look, I'll explain later, okay?" Inuyasha said, looking irritated. "Let's just concentrate on getting out of here."

He turned around and started to walk down the cobblestone path. He stopped when he realized that the girl was not following. He turned around and much to his irritation, she had not moved from her spot. She stood there looking dazed and lost.

"Hey!" Inuyasha called loudly. "We gotta get moving! So move your ass and -"

"Look, buddy," Kagome said hotly, her face contorting in anger. "I just got dumped into a totally foreign place, shot out of a collapsing cave, and now I've just been told that I'm on an entirely different planet! I need some time to absorb this and cope with it, all right?!"

Inuyasha looked like his temper was teetering off the edge. "Well, you can do it while walking, can't you?" He swung back around so quickly, the flame in his torch almost extinguished.

Kagome wanted a rope. A sash. A shirt. ANYTHING she could use to strangle the bejeezus out of that - that....that jerk!

Kagome let out a shuddering breath. She readjusted the straps on her shoulders and marched angrily after the white-haired bozo.

They walked in silence for a good fifteen minutes and they, well, didn't make much progress. They were deeper inside the town, but they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. It was just cobblestone, broken windows, creaking doors, and more cobblestone.

"Where are we going? Is there a certain place we're looking for?" Kagome asked, completely forgetting their dispute from fifteen minutes ago.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, had not forgotten. He was determined not to utter anything that would please her even a little.

"Hey," Kagome said, pulling on one of his forelocks so he would look at her. "I'm talking to you."

Inuyasha's eye twitched. "Well I don't want to talk to you."

Kagome blinked before narrowing her eyes slightly. "Are you still mad?"

"Well, I – n-no…" He said stubbornly.

"So where are we going?"

Inuyasha pulled out of her grasp and turned away, resuming his walk. "This town has a dock. It's a small one and no one uses it, fortunately for us. I have a ship waiting for me there," He answered.

"Oh, I see, and why aren't we there yet?"

"It's a long walk."

"Oh. Well, then I would like to take a break."

Inuyasha stopped and snarled at her. "You're not in the position to make those kinds of requests."

"Oh really?" Kagome smiled at him pleasantly. She walked away and sat down on a dusty porch.

She certainly was taking advantage of her position. She knew he needed her and wouldn't leave without her. Inuyasha snorted and walked over to her.

Kagome looked at him warily. Inuyasha gave her a brief wry smile before lifting her up and throwing her unceremoniously over onto his shoulder. He took the two bags and swung them over his other shoulder. Kagome shrieked indignantly.

"Let me down!" she screamed as she pounded his back with her small fists. "This is not dignified at all! Let me down, you – you arrogant pig-faced jerk!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, ignored her, and continued his walk. She wouldn't be able to keep it up. Once she got tired, she would quiet down.

After five minutes, Inuyasha started to wonder when this girl would start getting tired. She was starting to pull on his hair and his clothes, and continued to pound his back. Then she pulled one of his ears.

Inuyasha jerked his head violently away. "Bitch!" he hissed. He shook her with the arm that was holding her causing her to yelp.

"Hey! Listen, _princess_," he said disdainfully. "Right now I'm the only one who can get us out of here. Don't think that you have any authority just because I said I needed your help. I can easily forget about this whole thing and I'll dump you here, and you will be stuck here with no way back home. I make the rules. You obey them. So be a good girl and _shut up_."

Surprisingly, she said nothing and an odd shiver ran through her body.

Inuyasha smirked. Good. She knew who was boss now.

But that was not the reason.

"Can you feel that?" she whispered.

"What?" Inuyasha snarled. "Didn't I tell you to shut up?!"

Kagome seemed oblivious to his anger. "I have this really creepy feeling that we're being watched."

"This is a ghost town. No one's here."

"But I have this really bad feeling...."

"Then you need to get your feelings fixed. That goes for your hearing too," he added, recalling all those times he had to repeat things for her.

"Hey, I'm being serious."

"It's your imagination," he said bluntly.

He frowned. She felt something, huh… Could it be...?

Inuyasha shrugged it off. It wasn't something he wanted to worry about right now.

"Hey you, pick: 'R' or 'L'," Inuyasha said suddenly. They stopped where the street split into two.

Kagome had an odd look on her face. "Huh?"

He sighed irritably. "I said, 'pick: R or L'. Seriously, are you deaf or something? Because -"

"R" she said reproachfully.

"Righto." He veered right.

They reached another fork in the street. Inuyasha stopped again, looking around mildly.

Kagome narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Are we lost?"

Inuyasha said indignantly. "No." He walked to the curb and dropped her there, ignoring her painful yelp. "Sit here," he told her, "We're taking a break."

"Wait, what?"

Inuyasha walked away from her.

Ah, yes. This again – "shut up, be quiet, and don't move from that spot."

------...........-------

It smelled different.

It looked different.

It felt different.

Yep, he was definitely lost.

Inuyasha dug into his knapsack and took out a small metal box. He popped it open, took out a tiny, clear transmitter, and fixed it carefully in his ear.

"Hey, Metal Boy, you there?" he said.

A familiar voice answered, _"You're late."_

"I'm lost."

_"Figured so."_ There was a rustle of papers. _"Where are you?"_

Inuyasha squinted at one of the street signs; it was scratched and dented. "Uh, I think I'm on...Barrel's...no wait, Bernard Drive and..." He turned to look at the other sign. "Pervert - no, Reubert Avenue." He waited silently for a response.

There was a low whistle. _"Whoa, you're in pretty deep."_

Inuyasha scowled. "Shut up, Miroku, and tell me how to get out of here."

Miroku chuckled. _"Right, right."_

"You _are_ lost."

Inuyasha wheeled around to see Kagome appear behind him. He glared at her angrily. "Hey, didn't I tell you sit over there?"

"Who are you talking to?" Kagome asked curiously, ignoring his question.

"No one. Now go away."

_"Who are you talking to?"_ Miroku asked sounding very interested. _"Is it a girl?"_

"Directions, Miroku," Inuyasha said irritably.

"Who's Miroku?"

"No one -"

_"Hey, is she asking about me?"_

"No. Now give me directions, you idiot."

"Oh, you're talking with that plastic-thingy in your ear, aren't you? Can I talk too?"

"No, you cannot -"

_"Hey, let me talk to her."_

"Um, Inuyash - mmf!"

Inuyasha clamped his hand over Kagome's face, his palm pressed firmly against her mouth. "Directions. Now." He said to Miroku in a don't-you-dare-get-off-topic voice.

Miroku sighed. _"You're no fun. Okay, so from where you are, take a left and then turn right on Jenova. Go straight and then go right on, uh, Farefield Avenue. Then turn...left on Vetra, and then keep straight until you reach the dock."_

"How long do you think it'll take?"

_"Uh, probably about 35 minutes. You're kind of far from the dock." _

Inuyasha swore, oblivious to Kagome's attempts to remove his hand from her face. "We got bit of a walk," he told her, detaching his hand. He took up her wrist again, ignoring her indignant complaints.

They had reached the end of Old Birdie's Road when Inuyasha cocked his head at an illegible sign.

"What do you think it says?" Inuyasha asked, holding the torch higher.

Kagome, who had ceased fuming minutes ago, squinted her eyes. "Barrons? Er, no, I think it says Rockons."

"But we just passed that ten minutes ago!"

"No, we passed Vanard ten minutes ago." Kagome folded her arms across her chest. "Really, you need to -" Suddenly her eyes widened and she whipped around with an alarmed look.

Inuyasha looked down the street where Kagome was looking at. He saw nothing.

"What is it?"

"I -" Kagome frowned. "Nothing. I just thought I felt something."

Inuyasha sniffed. "Smells..." He also frowned. "Strange now." He wrinkled his nose. "Not a very nice smell either." He took Kagome's wrist and tugged her closer to him. "Come on. Let's get out of here. We're twenty minutes away from the dock, I think."

They had only taken a couple steps forwards when something crashed behind them. They both wheeled around. A wooden crate had been knocked off a stack of more crates and it shattered into dozens of wooden splinters. Kagome instinctively took a step closer to Inuyasha, who in turn raised a patronizing eyebrow at her. It was silent again and Inuyasha could not detect anything.

"The wind probably knocked it over," he said even though they had not felt anything even close to a breeze this night. Whatever made the crate fall over had bolted and Inuyasha wanted to leave more than to chase after whatever it was. He looked around them warily.

Then Miroku's voice spoke through his earpiece. _"Uh, hey, Inuyasha?"_

Inuyasha turned away. "What?"

_"Um, you know how before you left, we were saying that since Gunon Town was a ghost town, how it would be funny they had Undead things there?"_

"Yeah..."

_"Yeah, so uh, Daisuke just woke up from his nap and um...he said he detected that Gunon Town was um, loaded with them."_

Inuyasha's face contorted angrily. "Oh, for the love of -" Inuyasha cut himself off. He jerked his head up and took a sniff. This scent - it reeked of decomposing flesh and grave dirt.

"Um...Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered urgently. She scooted closer to him; her body was practically pressed against his.

"Wha -?" Inuyasha's eye widened before they narrowed as he smirked at the sight before him. "Now this is more like it..."

Thirty feet away, about twenty disfigured bodies limped and stumbled out from the shadows of the alleys and into the moonlight. Rotting flesh hung from their bones along with shreds of fabric. Many were mutilated or had limbs that were bent awkwardly. A few had their heads attached crookedly or were hanging from a shred of flesh. But all of them had black beady eyes that scanned the street before focusing on the living pair in front of them. Those that looked remotely humanoid had some sort of metal machinery strapped around them.

"What _are_ those things?" Kagome whispered, disgust and fear written on her face.

_"Oh yeah, another thing,"_ Miroku piped. _"You remember how we were all joking that Gunon Town used to manufacture firearms?"_

"Ah, so those metal things are guns then?" Inuyasha said.

_"Yea - Oh, you met our buddies already then?"_

"Yup." Inuyasha pushed Kagome behind him. "I'll be there in ten minutes," he told Miroku.

_"We'll be ready for you and your company,"_ Miroku replied lightly.

The Undead things grinned greedily (or, those who could did) and started towards their prey. Suddenly the ones with machine guns began to fire.

"Oh, shit."

Inuyasha threw the torch at one of the Undead. It smashed into one Undead's skull, setting its whole body ablaze. It screamed and raked its gnarled hands helplessly against the torch. It bumped into one of its fellows and set it too on fire. Inuyasha grabbed Kagome around the waist and leaped away. They broke through the window of an old shop, tumbling to the wooden floors, stirring up dust.

"All right?" He asked Kagome, who nodded unsteadily. She looked awfully frightened and seemed to have trouble processing their current situation through her head. Suddenly bullets whizzed past their heads and Inuyasha shoved Kagome's head down as he ducked his. "Come on," he shouted over the firing.

He scrambled behind the end of a counter and Kagome hid behind the counter opposite of his.

"Dammit," he swore. "I didn't think that they had fingers to use the guns!"

Kagome looked at him incredulously. "Well why do you think they would have guns in the first place?!"

"Well, I thought they were going to throw them at us or something!"

Kagome groaned.

Some stray bullets shattered the glassware on the shelves and the sharp pieces fell to the ground, missing Kagome by only a few inches. She yelped and pressed herself against the counter.

"Toss me the bag!" Inuyasha shouted.

Kagome fumbled with the straps for a moment before she could free one of the bags. She slid it across the floor to Inuyasha. He opened it and dug into it before tossing it away furiously.

"Give me _my_ bag, you moron!"

"What? Oh...sorry..." Kagome said, who was too disoriented to pay attention to which bag she was freeing, and tossed him his bag.

Inuyasha tore open the bag and dug through its contents before banging his head back on the counter. "Fuck! I left the Tessaiga on the ship!"

Kagome began to ask, "What's the Tess -"

Inuyasha whipped out a small pistol. He popped up from the counter and shot three bullets before dropping down again. A split second later, three horrible screeches ripped through the air. Five down. Fifteen more to go.

But he only had seven bullets left and no extras. How could he be so ill prepared!

Inuyasha scowled. He turned and fired six more at the Dead. Two ricocheted off the guns and ripped through the deteriorating bodies in front of the gunners. Each of the ricocheted bullets managed to strike one more target than it should have.

Inuyasha whipped back behind the counter. He managed to take down eight more of the Dead. There should be only two left...and he knew a trick that would take care of them.

Then he heard Kagome shriek. He whipped around to see the razor-sharp shards of a shattered vase about to fall on her. With a cabinet in front of her, the counter behind her, the shelves to her left, and the whizzing bullets to her right, Kagome was trapped.

Kagome flung her arms over her head and braced herself. But the nothing hit her. She peered through her arms, shocked to see Inuyasha hovering over her, his hands pressed against the counter on either side of her. Before she could do anything, there was a violent thud against the shop door.

They were trying to knock down the door, and it didn't sound like just two bodies slamming against it.

Without uttering a word, Inuyasha slipped an arm around Kagome and picked up his dropped pistol, along with the two bags. He leaped over the cabinet and kicked open the back door. He jumped over the back porch - only to be greeted by an enormous group of Undead.

Without hesitation, Inuyasha fired his pistol at a lamppost. It bounced off and tore through the heads of seven corpses who were standing stupidly next to each other.

Kagome frowned slightly. When it plowed through the corpses, for a second she thought she saw a bright light in a form of a cross emit from the bullet. Was it just her imagination?

The others stared dumbfound at their seven fallen comrades before breaking into angry high shrieks and moved threateningly forward.

Kagome made a startled sound and pushed herself closer to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha," she whispered. "What -"

"Go."

Kagome looked up at him. "What?"

He shoved her away from him and tossed the two bags at her. "Run," he said darkly. "Go anywhere."

Kagome gaped at him.

Inuyasha glared at her angrily when he saw she wasn't moving. "Run! If you run into any Undead, just throw at them anything that's in my bag!"

"But, I -"

"Go! I'll hold them off here." He tore a rusty metal pipe from one of the buildings, giving himself a 30-inch weapon. He looked at her. "I'll come back to find you. Now, beat it!"

Kagome took a hesitant step back before she turned and ran off, clutching the bags tightly.

When she disappeared from sight, Inuyasha turned to face his opponents. With a malicious grin, he twirled the metal pipe in his hand. Part of the reason he wanted the girl to leave was because he didn't want her to see this. It was too early for her to start emptying her stomach.

Inuyasha smirked, "Now this is where the fun begins..."

One of the corpses launched itself on Inuyasha. He easily thrust the pipe through its head, ripping rotting muscle and shattering the deformed skull.

-------.............--------

Kagome sank against the brick wall, panting lightly. She was in a small alley but the moon illuminated it so she could clearly see in all directions. She threw the bags carelessly in front of her and leaned her head back.

Kagome was amazed at her luck though. From the moment she left Inuyasha's side, she did not run into any of those Undead things.

Kagome cocked her head as she pondered. Inuyasha called them Undead. So they were some sorts of zombies - revived corpses. Kagome grimaced, feeling slightly nauseous as she remembered the rotting flesh and rancid odor.

Dumped into a new world, lost in a ghost town, chased by mutilated zombies, stuck with an arrogant moronic hanyou - what the hell did she get herself into?

A promise of freedom, huh? Kagome snorted softly. She had yet to see anything of this "freedom" of his. She hugged her knees and rested her chin on them.

_"Do you trust me?" _

_His outstretched hand. _

_His honest golden eyes bore into hers._

Did she trust him? She had said yes but did she truly mean it? He didn't exactly possess the character traits of person she would like to trust.

He was certainly an arrogant boy, no doubt, and could just be a total insensitive jerk most of the time she had been with him. Moronic was...a bit harsh. He had save her life numerous times tonight and he couldn't have done that if he didn't have at least a hint of concern for her. Of all the dangers they had faced today, he had managed to get her out of them safely. Though, the only person she had to be cautious around was Inuyasha himself.

She...probably just had to wait a little for this "freedom". It wasn't like she was leaving tomorrow or that she didn't have the patience to wait. Though, he did seem like the type of person she would have to do a lot of waiting for.

Like now for example.

...Where _was_ he?

Kagome's brows knit together. What if those zombie things overwhelmed him? That would mean she was stuck here wouldn't it? She didn't know how to get out! But most of all...what if he was hurt? Well, in all honesty, if he got a bruise or a couple of scratches, that would be okay and she would almost say that he deserved it for his horrible behavior. But if he got really injured, then she would be in big trouble. If Inuyasha couldn't fend off those zombies, how could she? Frankly, she would rather stick with Inuyasha than be stuck in this place.

And…fine, yes, she admitted it. She was a teensy bit worried about him. Just a little. Practically negligible. And she considered this almost a miracle taking into account the mess he had just pulled her into.

But yes, she did trust him – but only a little and only because she had to. If she didn't follow him then she wouldn't have any other place go to now would she?

Kagome frowned slightly. That idiot…

A voice called out from behind her. "There you are!" Inuyasha appeared, looking annoyed and frustrated. "I've been looking all over you! When I told you to go, I didn't mean 'go far away'! Well, then again, you do have a hearing problem so I guess that's… what? Did something happen? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Kagome put a hand over her rapidly beating heart. He scared the bejeezus out of her! Appearing out of nowhere like that - she thought she almost had a heart attack!

"Don't do that!" she hissed.

He blinked. "Do what?" he asked, though not expecting her to answer as he slumped down in front of her. "Anyways, I took care of the Undead. I doubt they'll be bothering us anytime soon." He reached over his back and he grimaced in pain as he yanked something from it. He flung it carelessly aside and reached over his back again to repeat the process of grimacing, yanking, and tossing.

Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly as she examined the pieces that were being thrown aside. They were pieces - shards of what must have been a porcelain vase. Their ends were stained with Inuyasha's blood. Then, Kagome's eyes rocketed wide in shock, immediately recognizing the flower-printed pieces. Her eyes flew to Inuyasha.

They were the pieces of the vase that had exploded in the shelf above her - the vase that was going to fall on her. The vase that Inuyasha had protected her from.

She had not thought about where those pieces had gone. She was shocked, too disoriented to think clearly. But now she knew where they were – they were now protruding out of Inuyasha's back.

A tidal wave of guilt washed over her. She wished she had done something – just something so that Inuyasha didn't have to do that. So that he didn't have to feel the need to protect her like that. It wasn't right for a jerk like him to be hurt because of her.

Kagome looked away from Inuyasha, who was struggling to get to a shard that was out of his reach.

Wanting to be of good use, she moved behind him. "Here," she said in a quiet, guilty voice. She wrapped her hand carefully around the piece and gently pulled it out. She proceeded to the next one and the one after it. Surprisingly, Inuyasha did not protest and just sat still in silence.

------………-------

"Stop it."

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're staring at my back again!"

"Well, I really think you should let me have –"

"It's fine! I heal fast, okay? So just leave it alone – Ow! Don't touch it!" Inuyasha slapped Kagome's hand away. "I say leave it alone and you touch it. What's wrong with you?"

Kagome rubbed her offended hand and glared at him. "How can you say that it's fine when it really hurts?"

Now he was getting really annoyed. "Because it wasn't hurting before you put your filthy little hands all over it!"

"How rude!" Kagome put her hands on her hips. "I'm just showing some concern and you throw a hissy fit! Is this how you usually show your gratitude to other people?"

"Oh, believe me, what I'm feeling right now isn't even _close_ to gratitude!" Inuyasha whirled around and stomped off.

"Hey, slow down! Are you trying to leave me behind or something?"

Oh how tempted he was.

Inuyasha took a sniff. "The dock's close. I can smell the sea." He sped up. "Hurry up. I don't want to spend another minute in this damn place."

Soon, he did reach the dock. It was empty excluding the remains of small boats. The old dock creaked under his weight. He inhaled deeply, taking in the welcoming and refreshing scent of the sea. He smiled. Home.

A few moments later, he heard Kagome arrive. She was panting slightly and glaring daggers into his back. Inuyasha ignored her and walked further in.

A short distance from the end of the dock, Inuyasha saw with delight his –

"Oh, so is that your boat?" Kagome asked.

"Ship," Inuyasha snapped.

"Oh. Right."

Kagome frowned slightly. The boat – er, ship wasn't exactly what she had imagined. She had expected it to be bigger, more majestic – looking; like those big ships she had seen in the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie. This one was definitely smaller and it didn't look all that special. It didn't look like something that someone would be extremely proud of, which was what Inuyasha seemed to be at the moment.

Suddenly a cold chill seemed to spread throughout her bones. It was that bad feeling again.

"Um, Inuyasha," she said softly, desperately hoping that she was wrong. "I think…they're somewhere around here…again."

But it seemed she didn't have to tell him for him to know. Inuyasha was frowning and sniffing again.

He groaned. "Aw man…"

Suddenly a line of bullets tore at the wooden dock, causing it to rain with pieces of wood. Kagome stumbled out of way and the bullets whizzed past her. She felt Inuyasha's big hand close around her wrist and she was yanked up to her feet. Inuyasha ran down the dock, pulling Kagome behind him.

"I thought you said you took care of them!" Kagome shouted over the loud guns.

"I did! I –"

Inuyasha cut himself off when he realized that they were nearing the dock's end. "Hey, how far do you think it is from the end of the dock to the ship?"

Kagome looked over his shoulder. "Um, I don't know…er, I think 10 – 15 meters!"

Inuyasha smirked. "Piece of cake."

He swept Kagome into his arms and raced down the dock at an almost neck-breaking speed. Just as he reached the edge, he took a flying leap and they sailed through the air. The water beneath them sprouted small columns of water into the air from the rain of bullets.

Kagome clutched Inuyasha's neck nervously. She felt terrified but excited at the same time. The wind was blowing in her face and hair and – it was almost like she was flying. It was the most amazing feeling. But that feeling quickly disappeared when Kagome looked behind them.

Dozens of the Undead were lining up crookedly on the shore. Most of them had some kind of firearm and were already shooting. The others had crudely made spears or harpoons and were throwing them. With their mutilated limbs and crooked heads, it was difficult for them to aim or throw properly. They were clumsy and not conformed, and they seemed fearful of the water. They stood quite a distance from the small waves, and those on the dock were standing as close as they could to each other, and as far away from the edge.

Spears missed Kagome and Inuyasha completely and splashed into the sea. The corpses with guns had a better chance of hitting their targets, but uncoordinated as they were, they didn't. But with sudden stroke of luck, a spear soared high into the dark sky and when it fell, Kagome and Inuyasha were directly in its path.

Kagome cried out in alarm, seeing the spear's blunt point only inches from her face. At the moment Kagome opened her mouth, Inuyasha whirled around in midair and kicked the spear away. But that left Inuyasha little time to prepare himself for landing, resulting in the pair of them crashing into the ship's deck. Inuyasha managed to break their fall but Kagome tumbled off hard onto the wooden floor.

Kagome groaned painfully, her back aching. She heard the footsteps of heavy boots near her head, temporarily forgetting her pain. She peeked her eyes open to see a teenage boy with a friendly face.

"Ah, you must be Inuyasha's company." He smiled. "Welcome aboard the _Fortis Libertas_, miss."

* * *

AN: School will be starting next week and I'm entering my 11th year. Since 11th grade will be the hardest, I'm going to be spending more time studying and getting ready for my SATs. Ugh. So updates will be slow. Er. Very slow. Well, slower than usual. I'll try to write a little every once in awhile like during the holidays or something. But other than that, I won't be having a lot of time on my hands. It's quite a shame considering that BH is just starting and that's really my fault. But oh well. That's the way it is. Well, enjoy this chapter. 'Cos who knows when the next update will be. T-T 


	3. On the Job

AN: So….I haven't updated for almost four months, now? (laughs sheepishly) But I glad that no one flamed me so thanks a bunch you guys. You're all totally awesome! (hugs all of you who haven't left me) Well, I'm going to shut up now, so enjoy!

* * *

**The Broken Horn **

**Chapter Three**

**On the Job**

* * *

"Welcome aboard the _Fortis Libertas_, miss." 

Kagome stared back at the violet eyes. "Um, hello – ah!"

Inuyasha suddenly grabbed her forearm and pulled her away. A spear landed exactly where she was seconds before, point down, quivering ominously. The corpses on shore were starting to realize that they would have to throw at a higher angle unless they wanted their bullets and spears to continue bouncing off the hull of the ship.

Suddenly, Inuyasha turned his head away and bellowed in a voice Kagome never knew he could possess. "_ALL HANDS ON DECK!_"

Almost instantly, there was a thunderous sound of feet pounding on wood; it was growing louder by the second. Then on Kagome's far right, a hatch burst open and five young men streamed out with various types of guns and ammunition bundled in their arms. They lined up on the side of the ship, propped their guns on stands, and immediately proceeded to shoot the Undead.

Inuyasha pushed himself to his feet as the boy who greeted her earlier took Kagome's hand in his gloved one and pulled her to her feet.

"Thank you," Kagome said, looking at him. His dark hair was tied back and his handsome face was still enriched with his cheerful smile.

"Not a problem," he said, but before he could say anything further, Inuyasha broke in, "Miroku, where's Daisuke?"

Miroku pointed towards the bow of the ship. Kagome followed his finger and saw that on the far end of the ship was a tall, cloaked figure who was standing on the edge. His arms were stretched out before him with one hand open while the other held a closed fan.

Kagome was about to ask what he was doing when the fan in his hand gave a pulse of blue light. Then, his opened hand glowed a soft silver-blue light and a wispy mist flowed out of his open hand and began to spread out. It glided over the open water and towards the shore. The instant it hovered over the shore, the Undead dropped lifelessly one by one to the sand. The mist continued to extend until it blanketed the entire town. It lingered for a couple more seconds until it faded completely.

"What did he just do?" Kagome asked Miroku as everyone around them began to chatter, cleaning up and bringing their weapons back under the deck. She ignored the curious glances that they sent her.

"He put all the Undead to rest and returned all the spirits back to where they belonged," he answered.

"Put to rest?"

"Yes. He's a shinigami. That's his job."

Shinigami? Kagome remained quiet as she tried to recall what that term meant. She had heard it once in her Mythology and Folklore class. Oh! She remembered now. A shinigami was a god of death, a soul reaper, or whatever you want to call a person who deals with spirits and death. Kagome gulped. She could see vividly the pictures of shinigami from her text in her mind. They weren't pleasant ones. Shinigami looked like humanoid monsters. Some had arms so long that they sometimes could drag on the ground. They had bulging eyes and mouths that seem to split their faces into two. They were tall and lanky and were…well, just not pleasant to look at. Each shinigami had a different appearance but Kagome wasn't too psyched to see this one's face.

But a more important question came to her mind. What was a shinigami doing on this ship? According to her text, shinigami were spirits themselves and could not be seen by ordinary humans except for those with high spiritual powers like priests and priestesses. This one she could see as clearly as Inuyasha and it seemed the same for everyone else on this ship. Did everyone here have high spiritual powers? Did it mean that _she_ had high spiritual powers?

Kagome turned when she realized that Miroku was talking to her. "I'm sorry, what?"

Miroku grinned. "What's your name, miss?"

"Kagome, and you're Miroku, right –"

"DAISUKE!" Inuyasha roared as he stomped across the deck.

The cloaked figure jumped off the edge of the ship and approached Inuyasha with carefree ease, seeming unperturbed by Inuyasha's boiling temper. He raised his hands to pull back his hood. Kagome wanted to look away, not having much of a desire to see what this shinigami looked like, but her curiosity won her over. He bowed his head and pulled the hood back.

The first thing Kagome saw was an untidy mop of brown hair. The shinigami lifted his head and…he looked human. His face wasn't distorted nor did he have bulging eyes or anything else Kagome expected him to have. Instead, he had a kind and gentle face with friendly hazel (normal sized) eyes. But what about what was under his cloak? Did he have horrible tattoos or scars that covered his entire body? Or maybe he was really everything she imagined him to be but he had the power to disguise his appearance to look human. Or maybe –

Kagome felt something wet touch her hand. She looked down to see a black dog sniffing her. It felt her stare and pulled back to look at her. Its tongue rolled out and it wagged its tail. Kagome knelt down and patted its furry head. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed that its right foreleg was a mechanical one. Kagome's face softened sympathetically. Poor doggie…

Kagome was about to lean in to give that leg a closer look, curious as to how it worked when she heard Inuyasha's raised voice. She turned her head to look. He was waving his arms and yelling. The shinigami was smiling and scratching his head sheepishly. When he realized that Kagome was staring at him, he flashed her a charming smile and then held his hands up in front of him, trying to soothe Inuyasha's temper.

"Why is Inuyasha mad at him?" Kagome asked Miroku.

"Ah, well, Daisuke has a tendency to take naps at inconvenient times," Miroku answered casually. "Oi, Inuyasha!" He called out. "Don't you have a guest to tend to?"

Inuyasha turned around with an annoyed look and shot Kagome a hard glare.

What? What did she do? Why was he looking angry with _her_?

Inuyasha jabbed his finger at Daisuke's chest and growled something before whipping around and stomping towards Kagome.

"Come on," he grumbled, a vein in his temple still twitching. "Tell Toji to get us out of here," he shouted over his shoulder.

Kagome frowned at him, wary whether she should listen to him.

She heard someone click his tongue. "Come here, Nina."

Kagome turned to see the black dog skip toward the shinigami, her steel leg clicking against the wooden deck. He greeted the dog with a scratch behind her ears. He met Kagome's gaze with a friendly grin and gestured her to go to Inuyasha.

"Hey, what are you waiting for?" Inuyasha shouted.

"I'm coming," Kagome said in an annoyed tone and picked up her bag.

She followed him under the deck of the ship and into a large hallway with many doors along the sides.

"Right now, there's only two places you need to know," Inuyasha told her. "The bathroom is there." He pointed to the door at the end of the hall. "And your room's here." He led her to the second door from the bathroom. "I'll give you a tour of the ship tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?" she asked curiously.

"Because I'm tired, my back hurts, and I want to sleep." Inuyasha opened the door to her room and walked inside.

Kagome followed him with a frown but the frown immediately disappeared when she saw what was inside. It wasn't exactly spacious, but satisfactory. It had a bed on the side with a small table (with an antique-looking lamp on it) next to it. Across from it was a table with several wooden chairs and further left was a small dresser with a mirror above it. Across the room was a little window with blue curtains and next to it was an armchair. Everything was bolted to the floor, even the lamp was fixed to the table. Everything except for the wooden chairs

"I gave you a window so don't complain," Inuyasha said.

"Who's complaining?" Kagome said as she walked around the room in awe. "Can I take a bath now?" she asked, putting her bag on her table.

Inuyasha shrugged. "If you want." He turned towards the door. "I'm going. If you need anything, just ask whoever you see."

Kagome stopped him. "Wait, what about a towel, pajamas, and some fresh undergarments?"

"Towels are in the bathroom and uh, I'll get someone to find some clothes for you. There's a bathrobe in there somewhere." He gestured to the bathroom. "By the time you get out, everything you need will be here."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. And why he would have women's undergarments in his possession was something she really was curious about. Kagome opened her mouth to ask but Inuyasha stopped her. "Save your other questions for tomorrow, okay? I'm going to bed."

"Wait. I have a question that I think you're obligated to answer."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. He folded his arms across his chest, waiting.

"Before," Kagome started slowly. "You said that you needed me to help you on something. That's half the reason why I'm even here. My question is what is it that you need me to help you on?"

Inuyasha stared at her with an unreadable expression. Then he reached over with his arm and flicked her forehead hard with his finger.

"Ow!" Kagome's hands flew to her forehead and she started indignantly, "Why did you –"

"Hey," he snapped. "I said to save your questions for tomorrow, didn't I?" He turned around. "Remind me first thing tomorrow to get those ears of yours checked. I've reached the conclusion that they are broken, plus they're pissing me off." And he left.

What a nice host.

But she had to give him some credit. She was expecting this cramped dirty bathroom with unidentifiable organisms growing in the worst spots possible. Instead, she found a small (but not exactly cramped) room with an ivory bathtub, toilet, and sink. Colorful towels were hung neatly on the wall. It was nice to know that a guy like Inuyasha would at least try to keep a clean bathroom.

When she got out of the gorgeous bathroom and went back into her room, there was a pair of pajamas and undergarments folded neatly on the bed just as he promised. Kagome unfolded the cotton pajama shirt and held in front of her. It was a solid lavender color and had a soft texture. Kagome smiled softly. At least he was putting in a little effort to make her comfortable here. But that smile slowly faded when she gazed at the calm ocean outside her window. Her hands dropped to the bed along with the pajama shirt.

What was she getting herself into?

-----------

It was midnight when Mrs. Higurashi placed her purse on the coffee table. She had called from the hospital but no one had answered. She knew Souta would be fast asleep but she thought Kagome would still be up as she was usually. There was the possibility that Kagome was in bed but that didn't make Mrs. Higurashi worry any less. So she came back to check up on her children.

Mrs. Higurashi climbed the stairs and opened Souta's bedroom door slightly. Her son was sleeping soundlessly with his blanket tucked neatly under his chin. She smiled and closed the door quietly. She looked down the hall and saw light coming out of Kagome's bedroom. So Kagome was still up. But why hadn't she answered the phone?

Mrs. Higurashi entered the room, surprised to see it empty. She frowned slightly. What was her father's golf club doing in here? She picked it up and returned it to its proper place.

"Kagome?" She called out quietly. She searched the whole floor but did not find her daughter. She began to feel nervous as she went back down the stairs. "Kagome?" Her voice became more urgent.

"Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi called out in panic. She ran into the kitchen. Empty. She ran back into the living room. Empty. The stairs creaked behind her. "Kago-"

"What are you doing, Mom?" Souta rubbed his eyes tiredly at the foot of the stairs..

Mrs. Higurashi grabbed her son by his arms. "Souta, where is your sister!"

Souta blinked in surprise and confusion. "In her room?"

"She's not in there! I checked!" she said in frustration, running her hand through her hair.

"But where else would sis be?"

"I don't know. Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi called out again. She went outside and continued to call out her daughter's name with Souta by her side as she searched the shrine's grounds fruitlessly.

------------

Inuyasha walked in the room with an irritated scowl on his face. _I can't believe it…_

"She still sick?"

Inuyasha turned to see who spoke. Chiaki was sitting there in a computer chair that was bolted into the floor. He swung the chair right and left with a curious look.

"Barfing faster than I can see," Inuyasha replied as he pulled a clean blue tunic over his head. He really liked his red one. But, now it had…yucky stuff on it. His eye twitched. He should have never come close to her in the first place.

"Why don't you ask Izumi to attend to her?" the auburn-spiky-haired boy said.

"I did."

"And?"

"He said that unless the girl started barfing blood or passed out more than five times, I should leave him alone because it was something that I could handle by myself. If I were to bother him again, he threatened to drug my dinner," Inuyasha recited, vividly recalling the ship's healer chasing him out of the mini-clinic.

"Oh." Chiaki paused. "Did he say it was your fault?"

"Yes," Inuyasha scowled as he slumped in the chair next to Chiaki. He started to spin it around. "Don't know what that old geezer was talking about!"

"Well…it kinda was your fault."

Inuyasha pulled the chair to an abrupt halt and fixed a glare at Chiaki. "How so?"

"Er…well," Chiaki started uncomfortably. "You…probably should've…asked the girl if she had ever been on a boat – I mean, ship…or if she got seasick easily or something…"

Inuyasha continued to glare at him before rolling his eyes and turning away. "Keh…"

Inuyasha leaned his chair back and looked around the room. They were in the control room of the _Fortis Libertas_ – the brain of the ship. In front of them of was a large screen displaying a small blue dot labeled _Fortis Libertas_ slowly moving up the grid map. On the bottom of the screen were boxes with data such as their latitude and longitude positions. Along the side and under the large screen were smaller screens that showed the working order of the ship's engine, the position of the sails, and so on.

"Where's Toji?" Inuyasha asked Chiaki. Their navigator did not leave this room very often.

"He went to the bathroom. He'll be back soon," Chiaki answered. "Ah, speak of the devil."

With a plate of dumplings in his hand, Toji walked in with Miroku behind him.

"Oh, we're all here," Toji remarked as he placed his plate on the control panel. "I guess we should get started then. Get out of my seat, Chiaki."

Miroku took a seat next to Inuyasha, "The little lady's sleeping. I gave her some medicine so she'll be fine."

"'Kay," Inuyasha replied with disinterest.

"When are you planning to use her, Inuyasha?" Chiaki asked as he took on a new chair.

Inuyasha shrugged. "I'm taking my time. I want her to get accustomed to this world first. She might not be willing to do it if we shove everything in her face."

"It's kinda cool, isn't it?" Chiaki said with a smile. "Coming from an entirely different world? There've been all these theories but no one's done anything about it."

"Her world isn't that different from ours," Inuyasha said blandly. "Toji?"

"Oh, right."

Toji turned to the control panel, took a dumpling, and put the plate aside. With the dumpling in his mouth, Toji typed some commands. The grid map on the large screen minimized to a small box and disappeared. It reappeared on one of the small screens on the side. The data that it had replaced opened in the large screen. Toji typed in a few more commands and the data began to split parts of itself into sections with small boxes, and aligned themselves on the side of the large screen. More boxes appeared on the bottom with images flashing through them. The main body of the data began to scroll and Toji's eyes shot left to right as he read.

"Find anything?" Inuyasha said.

"Uh…Okay, we got a Hollow up in Xingli. It's been confirmed that the Hollow is a third-level one. It appeared two days ago and started to attack Xingli's civilians…blah, blah, blah. Ah, here we are: the Midoriko Order dispatched a group of five ten minutes ago."

Inuyasha snorted. "They need five nuns to exorcise it?"

The Midoriko Order. Like almost every Order out there, they were a clerical organization that exorcised murderous demons, Hollows, the Undead, and the like using guns, or whatever machinery that could be used against these evil beings. On the other hand, there were Orders that were old school, using crossbows, swords, and whatnot. But the Midoriko Order, they were the only Order that he cared about and they'd dispatched a group to exorcise a fallen ghost. Inuyasha grinned. Not if he got there first.

"How far away are we from Xingli?" he asked.

Toji pulled back the grid map. "I can get us there in fifteen minutes. The Midoriko Order will get there…in thirty."

Inuyasha stood up. "Okay, do it. Miroku. Chiaki. We're going to my study."

When Inuyasha reached the door, Toji stopped him. "The Military has a Headquarters there. The Chunling Order's base is there too. Their arsenal got broken into so they're out of commission right now, but you should still watch out for them. You might want Shun. I think he's on deck."

"Do you want me call Daisuke?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha looked at him as if he was crazy. "Hell, no. I got something else for him to do."

------------

Kagome opened her bedroom door and stuck her head out. She looked up and down the empty hall before sliding out and closing the door behind her. Now. Where was the kitchen?

She spent the majority of the morning emptying her stomach and feeling horrible all over so of course she'd be hungry. Hm, who knew she would be seasick? True, she never been on a boat before but she really thought she would be able to handle it. Well, her stomach proved otherwise.

But now that she was feeling much better, she wanted to eat. Kagome frowned. Where would Inuyasha be? Last night, he said he would give her a tour of the ship today. He was nowhere in sight and she had no idea where to look to find him. And she really wanted to know where the kitchen was, assuming heavily that this ship had one.

Kagome walked down the hall, looking at each door, searching for signs that would indicate that behind that door was the kitchen. She was halfway down the hall when she was surprised to see shoji doors, which were unlike all the other doors with knobs. These doors were not as thin as the ones back home, but she could hear faint voices behind them.

Well, this was a good enough sign to go inside and check.

Kagome slid open the doors. It was definitely the kitchen. On her right was a large counter and behind it were a stove, a sink full of dishes, an oven, cupboards, and cabinets. On her left was a long table with four boys sitting on its benches. Two of them, a spiky-auburn haired one and a silky-brown haired one, were chattering animatedly with each other. The Chinese-looking guy was reading what looked like the newspaper and the quiet one who looked the youngest of the four was reading a book.

When Kagome entered, they all stopped and looked at her. The spiky-haired boy broke into a friendly grin.

"You must be Kagome. Welcome to the galley," he said. He took her arm and led her to the table. "Come, let me introduce myself. I'm Chiaki. This is Laurence." The brown-haired boy waved. "This is Ling." The Chinese-looking boy grinned. "And this is Shun." The quiet boy smiled at her softly.

"Nice to meet you –"

Kagome was halfway though her bow when Chiaki pulled her back up.

"Please, no formalities. It makes us feel kind of awkward."

Kagome blinked. "Oh. Okay, then," she said awkwardly.

"Here, sit."

"Oh – er, thank you."

"So how are you feeling?" Laurence asked. "We heard that you were seasick."

"Oh, yeah," Kagome said, feeling a little embarrassed. "I'm okay now. I never been on a boat before so…"

"Understandable."

Shun handed her an apple which Kagome took gratefully. It was…weird though, how she had all of their attention. It wasn't something she was really used to.

"Oh!" Kagome said, suddenly remembering. "Do you know where Inuyasha is?"

"He's on a job," said a voice behind her. "Why?"

Kagome turned around to see Daisuke enter the kitchen along with a strong smell of soap. "On a job?"

"Where are we?" Ling asked, glancing at the small window behind him.

"Xingli," Shun answered.

"Demon?"

Laurence shook his head. "Hollow. Third level."

Kagome blinked. What?

"Hm, sounds easy enough," Ling said.

"Yeah, and the Midoriko Order dispatched five of their people," Chiaki said.

Laurence and Ling exchanged shocked looks.

"Seriously?!" Laurence exclaimed before taking a sniff. He grinned at Daisuke. "Inuyasha made you clean the deck floor again, huh? You know, if you didn't take naps at such inconvenient times, you wouldn't be having this problem."

Daisuke shrugged indifferently.

Kagome cut in, "Um, sorry but what are you guys talking about? What job is Inuyasha on?"

Chiaki gave Kagome a blank stare. "You don't know? Inuyasha didn't tell you?"

"Well, apparently not."

"Inuyasha is an exorcist, Kagome," Daisuke said. "Well, a non-profitable exorcist."

"An exorcist?"

"Yes. We're all exorcists, actually. We exorcise Undead, Hollows, and the like; and demons if they're stirring up a lot of trouble."

Kagome stared. "He never said anything about that…" She looked to each of them. "But then why is only Inuyasha gone?"

"Miroku's with him but usually it's just me, Miroku, and Inuyasha who go out and get the job done. The only time everyone comes out is when there's a big fry to handle. I stayed this time because I had to clean the deck."

Oh, that was right. It would make sense that Daisuke went with them, considering he was…

Kagome stroked her apple with her thumb. "You're a shinigami, right?"

Daisuke grinned. "Yes, madam."

"I thought shinigami are spiritual beings and humans aren't supposed to be able to see them. I'm pretty sure I don't have any spiritual powers, so how am I able to see you?"

He chuckled. "That's because I'm a human shinigami."

Kagome gave a puzzled look. "Human shinigami?"

Daisuke nodded. "I'm human. I just have shinigami powers.'

"How is that possible?"

Daisuke just grinned.

Laurence frowned. "Wait, so, what did Inuyasha tell you?"

"Well…" Kagome thought for a moment. She then realized that Inuyasha had told her next to nothing about himself. "All he told me was that he could bring me to a place where I'd be happier and in return, I had to help him look for something."

"Did he tell what that something was?" Ling asked.

"No."

"Ah."

Daisuke took a seat across from Kagome. "If he told you so little, then why did you agree to go with him?"

"I was…distraught, I guess. And desperate. I just wanted to get out so I didn't really think carefully about what he was saying."

"And he took advantage of that," Chiaki concluded.

"He didn't –" Kagome started before realizing that Inuyasha _did_ take advantage of her. It was true that she probably should have demanded more answers before agreeing to his offer, but he should have at least told her who he was.

Kagome could feel her temper boiling.

"You know, come to think of it," Daisuke said thoughtfully. "shouldn't Inuyasha and Miroku be back by now?"

"Hey, you're right. It's been – " Ling glanced at the clock. "Two hours already. Do you think something happened?"

"If something did, I think they would have contacted us by now," Chiaki said.

"Wait," said Laurence. "They never came by my work room."

Daisuke frowned. "What?"

"They never came by my work room to pick up their communicators."

Chiaki swore.

Shun's quiet voice joined the conversation. "They probably figured that this would be an easy mission so the comms wouldn't be necessary."

"I think from now on, no matter where you go, you have to have a comm with you," Laurence declared.

"I second that," Chiaki said.

"Hold on," Kagome suddenly interjected. "If you guys are non-profitable, how could you afford a ship, let alone support a crew?"

The boys exchanged uneasy looks.

"Er…well," Chiaki started. "We get our stuff…from other people…"

Kagome frowned. "What do you mean by that? Oh, do townspeople give you things as some sort of gratitude?"

"Oh, well, they do sometimes do that," Ling said. "But uh, a majority of our budget comes from…uh," he paused, searching for a way to phrase it. "…other people's stuff."

Kagome stared, unable to make sense out of any of this.

Laurence looked at his shipmates. "Better she knows now than later," He muttered.

"It's better that I know what?" Kagome asked.

Laurence pulled up the sleeve of his right arm, and below his wrist a part of his skin was a lighter tone. It was some kind of pattern on his skin, and when Kagome looked closer, she realized that it formed a shape of a "P". The others did the same and she saw that they all had the letter "P" on their arms. It looked as if it was…_branded_ onto their arm.

"A-All of you have the brands," Kagome said in a small voice.

"Miroku and Daisuke are the only ones who don't," Shun said quietly, pulling his sleeve back down.

"That's because – " Laurence started with an annoyed look.

Kagome's eyes widened and she burst out, "You guys are pirates? You guys…_steal_ from people?"

Chiaki pulled down his sleeve. "It's justified!" he said quickly.

Kagome's jaw dropped. "How is any kind of stealing justified?!"

"Well, technically, we're not pirates. To civilians anyways."

"What is that supposed to mean? I've read in old books that pirates caught by the East India Company were branded with a "P" – irremovable proof that they were in fact, pirates."

"The East India what now?" Laurence said with a frown. "No, no. The Zeplon Trading Division are the ones who brand pirates. And this whole branding thing was a totally big mistake!"

"Oh?" Kagome said, raising an eyebrow. "Then, please, enlighten me."

Laurence just opened his mouth when an indistinct voice from on deck began cursing loudly. All eyes looked up to the ceiling.

"Well, I think we can all guess who's here now," Daisuke said.

But before anyone could do anything, the kitchen door slid open violently. They all turned to see Kagome storm out, sliding door still rattling. Just as she left, someone else entered with a surprised look on her face and an armful of grocery bags.

"Hey Charlotte," Chiaki greeted weakly.

---------

"Damn it!"

Inuyasha jumped onto _Fortis Libertas_' deck with an angry thump while a long string of curses flew out of his mouth.

"What took so long?" Toji asked, frowning slightly at his captain. "You guys took over a - " He stopped short. "…Jeez, what happened?"

Toji looked at Inuyasha from head to toe. The Xingliese clothes that Shun had provided him to wear were practically rags. There was a huge rip across the chest and one sleeve was reduced to shreds.

"We were attacked by this psychotic bitch!" Inuyasha said in rage.

"What?"

Miroku came onboard from behind with a sigh, looking just as ripped up as Inuyasha.

"Miroku?" Toji said, his eyebrows were raised as he waited for an explanation.

"Well, we took care of the Hollow easily enough. It took longer to look for it than to kill it. Then on our way out, this very beautiful lady –"

"That crazy bitch attacked us!" Inuyasha practically shouted. "And her face was covered; how would you know if she was pretty or not?"

"She had a pretty body. Pretty body equals pretty face. Therefore, I think I'm right to assume that she is all in all, a beautiful lady."

"Yeah, well she sure had the manners of a lady, now didn't she?" Inuyasha said sarcastically as he gestured to what was left of his shirt.

Miroku frowned. "We killed the Hollow and got out alive. You're only angry because by the time the Midoriko Order arrived, you weren't there to rub it in their faces that you got there first."

"Yeah, so?"

Suddenly the hatch banged open and Kagome stomped out onto the deck.

"Hey!" Inuyasha called out, his anger building. "This is my ship! You can't kick –"

"Where were you?" Kagome asked vehemently when she reached him.

"Why should I tell you?" He snapped.

"_Where_ were you?"

"Out."

"Where?"

"In Xingli."

"What were you doing?"

"Stuff."

"Inuyasha," She hissed. "From the start, you haven't been telling me the whole truth. I demand that you tell _everything_ right here, right now."

"Or what?" Inuyasha challenged.

Kagome drew her trump card. "Or I won't help you on whatever you need help on."

Inuyasha blinked before bursting out in laughter, his temper disappearing.

…Or what she thought was her trump card.

"Fine, okay. So then I'll let you leave. Where are you going to go?" Inuyasha asked, still chuckling. "Or should I assume that you know how to get back to your world?"

Kagome glared at him.

He just smiled and shrugged. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Are you an exorcist?"

Inuyasha blinked in surprise. His brows creased with suspicion. "Who did you talk to?"

Kagome said nothing.

He sighed. "Fine, I am."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't see any reason to."

"Considering that it's your job, it seems to be something of importance. Important enough that you should have told me in the beginning."

"What difference does it make? You know now."

Kagome glowered. Then she said, "Let me see your right arm."

Inuyasha's stare hardened. "What?"

Kagome held her hand expectantly. "Give your right arm."

Inuyasha's eyes bored into hers but Kagome did not waver. He hesitantly stuck out his right arm, which Kagome grabbed. She pulled back his wristband.

She threw back his arm back to him in disgust. "You have the brand; you're a pirate," she spat. "That was definitely something that you should've told me from the start!"

"Okay, look – "

"What else are you keeping from me, huh? Is half of your crew really cats in disguise? Is your ship really a spaceship that can shoot nuclear bombs?" Kagome rambled, waving her arms around. "Are you keeping dragons under here?" She stomped her foot several times on the wooden deck.

"You probably don't want to do that," Inuyasha warned. "Our cook just came back – in a bit of a sour mood. But come to think of it, she's practically a dragon."

Kagome looked appalled. "You have dra – "

"Wait, no! Not literally!"

"What I don't understand is why you felt you had to keep me in the dark," Kagome said angrily. "Before you took me here, you told me that you could bring me to a place where I wouldn't be miserable anymore. But how can I be happy in any place when I don't know who the people around me really are."

Inuyasha stayed silent with a look of discomfort on his face.

"I admit, I should have thought more thoroughly before making my decision," Kagome continued. "I went out on a whim. It was incredibly stupid of me, I know. But don't you think that you were obliged to tell me everything I needed to know?"

Inuyasha stared at her. Her gaze seemed now weary…and disappointed. Inuyasha resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He did _not_ want to deal with this now.

"Fine. I made a mistake," he said blandly and in a low tone. "Better now?"

Kagome sighed as if she no longer wanted to continue this talk. "It's okay. I'm…I'm a little tired now. I think I'm going to go back inside." She turned away.

Inuyasha frowned. Didn't he just say he was wrong? "I made a mistake" wasn't a phrase that he liked throwing around a lot. What more did this girl want?

"Hey."

She stopped.

"What do you want me to do?" He found himself asking. "Look, I'll be honest with you from now on, okay? That makes everything better, right? I'll answer your questions and everything."

Kagome held his gaze for a while before shrugging. "Okay," she said, but her tone told him that she wasn't very convinced. Then, she disappeared down the hatch.

Inuyasha sighed wearily and ran his hand through his hair. If only he knew that he'd have to deal with this kind of girl…

"I think you should make it up to her."

Inuyasha jumped slightly. He had forgotten that his crew was there to witness the entire thing. Except for Daisuke, who was probably busy taking a nap. He glanced at Miroku, who had spoken. "What?"

"I think you should make it up to her," Miroku repeated.

"I second that," Toji piped up. "What you did – "

"I know what I did."

"Well, then you know what you gotta do now."

"Hey, she's responsible for her decisions, not me," Inuyasha snapped.

"Puh-lease," Miroku said. "We know how you can be a manipulative bastard. Knowing you, it's hard to really blame her."

Inuyasha glowered at him.

"I think you should take her somewhere nice tomorrow," Chiaki suggested.

"Yeah," Laurence agreed. "She obviously doesn't have a good impression of this place. Tomorrow, show her how great this world can really be."

Inuyasha turned his moody stare to Laurence. "You corny –"

"Oh! Take her to Hanshin!" Ling exclaimed.

"No, no. Ambistand is better. Take her there."

Inuyasha frowned. "Why are you guys suddenly all deciding – "

"Oh! Zephlin!"

"Oh man! Yeah! You have to take her to Zephlin!"

"It's decided then," Ling announced. "Tomorrow, Inuyasha, you will take Kagome to Zephlin and make sure she has the time of her life."

Inuyasha gave him a deadpan stare though he didn't seem to notice.

"Okay! Toji," Chiaki called. "Take us to Zephlin!"

Toji did a mock salute and went down the hatch. The rest of the crew dispatched to their own business laughing and talking excitedly to one another, leaving Inuyasha by himself.

"Thanks, guys," He grumbled.

It was nice to know who was considered the boss around here…

Inuyasha turned his eyes to the hatch where the girl had disappeared through. Her sad expression appeared in his mind. He rolled his eyes. It wasn't worth worrying about. Though, if she was happier, it would mean better cooperation. Inuyasha sighed. Why couldn't she be a dog? Everything would've been so much easier…

He was just about to turn away when he heard someone call his name.

Inuyasha turned around to see Chiaki, Laurence, and Ling with their heads sticking out of the hatch, all grinning like idiots. "What?"

They all motioned him to come over.

"What?" He repeated when he reached him.

"We're discussing the places you should take Kagome to while you guys are in Zephlin," Chiaki said with a toothy smile.

"No," Inuyasha said immediately.

"Aw come on!" Laurence said. "Toji's waiting for us in the control room."

"No."

"Don't be such an ass. I mean, when was the last time we had a girl on the _Libertas_."

"Never."

"Exactly," Ling said. "So as men, we are responsible for her having a fantastical time while she's here."

"Go away."

Inuyasha turned to leave but then they latched onto his arms and pulled down into the hatch.

-------

AN: I don't know if this chapter was a little confusing to some of you, but don't worry! A lot of things will be explained in the next chapter…which will come out before the end of the year. Hopefully?


	4. The Date

**Author's Notes:** …So I'm a couple days late. No big deal, right? I wanted to explain more on the exorcist stuff; like what Hollows were and so forth but the exposition was longer than I expected so that stuff will have to wait until the next chapter. Sorry! But if there are any other question, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them next time I update.

* * *

**The Broken Horn**

**Chapter 4**

**The Date **

* * *

"Okay, it's uploaded," Toji announced and handed a disgruntled-looking Laurence the cracked mini-camera.

After being dragged into the control room, Inuyasha remembered about that little trinket. Back in Xingli when he saw that his attacker was masked, he immediately attached the mini-camera to one of the broken machines in the old factory that they were in. In case his assailant got away, he wanted to know who the hell that person was. See? He knew stealing from Laurence's work desk would prove handy one day.

"Alright, here we go."

Inuyasha looked up to see a video clip begin to play on the big screen.

The image quality was high but the lighting was bad from lack of sunlight so everything was mostly in shadows, except from the few beams of sunlight that came from the damaged roof. But in the shadows, two figures clashed with one another, jumping off walls and steel beams before clashing again; a third figure soon joined them.

"That's me," Miroku pointed out. "The chick caught us by surprise and went for me first. Knocked me out for a couple of minutes."

"I'm starting to think that her target was me," Inuyasha said. "She seemed to be in a hurry to get rid of you."

Miroku sighed. "What a disappointment…Usually it's the other way around."

"Did she use any weapons?" Chiaki asked as he leaned closer to the screen.

"Yeah. Two blades but the handles were on the sides instead of the ends," Inuyasha replied. "I've never seen those kinds of swords before. I'm pretty sure that those blades are one of a kind, most likely custom-made. If we can identify the weapon, I think we can find out who the hell attacked us."

Chiaki frowned slightly, his eyes following the movements in the shadows. After a few moments, he announced, "Double-bladed baton swords. Both blades are 30 inches long, probably made of the finest steel. The handles are most likely wrapped with black iron wire with brass and onyx stone on the end of the handle."

Ling squinted. "How can you tell? All I see is shadow, shadow, and oh, more shadow."

"Oh, well…here, Toji, move over." Chiaki took over the control panel and rewound the clip. It played again and after a few seconds, he paused it. "See, right there, our attacker passed through a beam of light, giving us a nice, sort of blurry, view of one of her weapons."

"Oh, I forget how sharp your eyes are. But how do you know it's onyx?"

"I'm glad you asked," He grinned. "Well, if we zoom in a little bit here…there, so as you can see, the pommel –"

"Ah!" Toji suddenly shouted. "H-h-he's going into one of his rock talks again! The last time he did that, I fell asleep and _missed_ dinner! And that was the night that Charlotte was making her famous pork dumplings." He pouted at the memory.

"Fine!" Chiaki scowled; disappointed that he couldn't share further on his analysis of the weapon. He looked back at the paused clip and after a few moments, he frowned deeply.

"Alright, so what's the problem?" Ling asked, noting Chiaki's puzzled look.

Chiaki exhaled heavily as stared at the screen. "Baton swords – it's an ancient art. And well, no one practices it anymore. No one who's alive anyways."

"Why not?"

"Well, when you're using baton swords, you need stealth and really good hand coordination. Here, Toji, get me a picture of a baton sword."

Toji obeyed. He entered a few commands and after a few seconds searching through the computer's database, he was able to withdraw a picture.

"See how both ends of the blade are exposed?" Chiaki pointed at the picture. "They're both equally sharp so it's easy to slip and cut yourself. Even for the best swordsmen, it takes years to master. And nowadays, it's like, why take the time to master this funky sword when you can just pick up a gun and shoot someone."

"There're still swordsmen today," Ling countered.

"But they all use regular swords. The standard sword is way easier to maneuver and now, taking the time to try to learn the art of baton swords is just a big hassle."

"You said you needed stealth to use the sword. Why's that?" Laurence asked.

"Well, back in the day when these were still used, the majority of the people who used them were assassins. Learning how to move the baton sword discreetly was one of the most difficult skills you had to have to master the art."

"Assassins?" Inuyasha said with a raised eyebrow. "Well that just made the situation a whole lot better."

Ling turned to Inuyasha. "Can you think of anyone who'd want you dead?"

"Yes," Both Inuyasha and Miroku chorused.

"There's a number of people in the Church that aren't exactly fond of Inuyasha," Miroku remarked.

"In other words, they hate me," Inuyasha said blatantly.

"Who hates you?"

All heads turned to the door to where the voice had come from. With a small basket of freshly baked dumplings in her hands, a middle-aged woman stood in the doorway. Her dark hair was kept back in a messy bun and her deep green eyes looked at the group of boys inquiringly.

Toji was the first one up to greet her. "Charlotte!"

Charlotte stuck out the basket. "Here, fresh out of the oven."

Toji took them and inhaled deeply. His eyes looked like they were tearing up as he pulled the cook into a tight hug. "I love you." He immediately pulled away and jumped into his chair, eagerly digging into the basket.

"What do you want, Charlotte?" Inuyasha asked coldly.

"Straight to the point, are we?" Charlotte said with a wry smile. "I heard you were going to Zephlin tomorrow."

"Apparently so," He grumbled bitterly.

Charlotte didn't seem to hear him as she pulled out a half sheet of paper. "There are some things I need you to buy for me." She held the sheet of paper in front of him, expecting him to take it.

Inuyasha pulled away. "Hell, no! Since when am I your errand boy?"

"Inuyasha…" The cook said warningly.

"No! I absolutely refuse! Seriously, I'm the captain of this ship! You guys should at least act like –"

Charlotte closed in so she was an inch from his face. "Do you want a good meal?" she asked threateningly.

Inuyasha stared defiantly back. After a few seconds, his jaw twitched and he snatched the sheet of paper out of Charlotte's hands.

Charlotte straightened with an annoyingly sweet smile. "Good! Well, I'll be in the kitchen if anyone needs me," she said in a chipper tone and left.

Inuyasha stared after her resentfully.

"Aw, cheer up, Inuyasha," Miroku piped. "It's probably only a few things anyways. What does she want?" He took the list from Inuyasha.

Inuyasha immediately snatched it back. "That's 'Captain Inuyasha' to you."

"You do realize the reason we don't call you that is because of how stupid it sounds."

"Shut up." Inuyasha held the list in front of his face. "Let's see…'get me garlic, two spatulas, cabbage, flour'…what does she need another pot for?"

"Oh, the one she had before broke," Laurence answered.

"How?"

"She threw it at me."

Inuyasha deadpanned. "Why?"

"Because I touched her oven."

"When you know that no one's allowed to touch it?"

"…Mm-hm."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and returned to the list. "'Radishes, apples' – ugh, why does she want broccoli? Someone give me a pen." Miroku handed him one and he crossed 'broccoli' off the list. "'Tomatoes, tangerines…'" He paused and his eyes narrowed. "Teach me how to spell tangerines'..."

"Hey, you know what this makes you?" Toji said with a toothy grin.

Inuyasha blinked. "What?"

"You're her bitch."

Toji fell out of his chair in his attempt to avoid the speedy dumpling that Inuyasha threw at him.

Ling cleared his throat. "Can we get back to business?"

"Right. Well, the only people of the Church who are in possession of weapons are the Orders," Chiaki said, "and they keep an inventory record so…"

Toji climbed back onto his chair and nodded. "I'll look it up."

Laurence turned to Inuyasha. "Can you think of anyone else?"

"Not at the moment," he answered. "Well then, I think that's all we can do for now. Toji will work on that inventory record and someone kick Daisuke out of bed for me." He looked at everyone. "So everyone good?"

Laurence raised his hand. "I actually have a request: can you stop stealing from my work bench, Inuyasha?" He held the cracked micro-camera in front of him.

Inuyasha blinked, and then laughed.

Chiaki clapped his hands. "Oh! I just remembered! Toji, bring out those pictures will you? Inuyasha, here are some places that we highly recommend that you take Kagome to when you're in Zephlin."

Inuyasha immediately stood up and started towards the door, but he didn't get very far. Ling and Chiaki grabbed his shoulders and arms, and pulled him back into his chair.

Chiaki grinned mischievously. "Stay, boy."

------------

Kagome looked up from her book when she heard someone knock. Her door opened and standing in the door way was Miroku with a tray of food in his gloved hands.

Kagome placed her book on the tabletop as she greeted him. "Hi."

"Hi, can I come in?"

Kagome nodded and Miroku walked in.

"You didn't come into the kitchen for lunch and you haven't eaten all day so I brought you something. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh no, I don't. Sorry, I didn't mean to be an inconvenience."

"Not at all." Miroku grinned and placed the tray on the table. His sleeve rose up a little and Kagome thought she saw a hint of metal, but his sleeve fell down before she could give it a second look.

"Is something wrong?" Miroku asked, seeing that Kagome was staring at his wrist.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry."

Miroku chuckled and began to take the dishes off the tray. Kagome looked up at him again. She frowned slightly. Now that she was really looking at him, she realized that the purple hooded coat he was wearing was rather inappropriate for this warm day.

Miroku had finished setting the table and placed the tray aside, and sat down. He was about to name each dish to her when he realized that she was staring at him again.

He smiled. "I guess I am really that handsome, then."

Kagome blinked and seemed to focus again. "I'm sorry, what?"

Or not.

"You're staring," Miroku said with a charming grin.

"Ah, sorry," Kagome apologized. "It's just, don't you think it's a little warm to be wearing a coat?"

He blinked before he realized what she was talking about. "Ah, I see what you mean." He chuckled. "Well, I was thinking of keeping this from you but now I see that there's no point in doing so."

Miroku took off his gloves, revealing that his right hand was not of flesh; it was mechanical, much like Nina's leg. He then shrugged off his hooded coat. Kagome's eyes grew wide. His entire right arm was a mechanical limb!

"You…" Kagome started.

"Yeah, I know," Miroku said with a smile as he moved his forearm up and down, and flexed his metal fingers. "My right leg, too."

"Your leg -?!"

Kagome's eyes widened even more after Miroku removed his right boot to show his mechanical foot. "See?"

Kagome swallowed and looked up at him as he wiggled his toes. "What a…surprise. Um, if you don't mind me asking…how…?"

Miroku slipped on his boot, coat, and gloves. He stared at his folded hands, carefully choosing his words. Finally, he looked at her and spoke. "I'm an alchemist, Kagome. Meaning, I can perform transmutations within the Law of Conservation." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I've studied alchemy for as long as I can remember. When I was thirteen, I was foolish enough to think that I was ready to perform this very advanced transmutation. It rebounded." Kagome gave him a puzzled look. "In other words, it backfired and I lost my right leg and arm."

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that," Kagome said sincerely.

He waved it off. "It's been six years. I'm over it." He grinned. "Well, eat up. Your food will get cold." He pushed the bowl of rice toward her.

Kagome thanked him and picked up her chopsticks. "Is this beef?"

"Yup. Sautéed."

She held the square piece of beef to her nose to take a whiff.

Miroku chuckled. "It's safe, you know. I didn't drug it or anything."

Kagome looked up at him. "You know, for a crew of pirates, you guys are surprisingly nice."

"What can I say? We're a bunch of nice guys. Though, I'm starting to think that's why Inuyasha doesn't like us very much."

"Well, I expected –"

"That we pillage and plunder, drink and smoke all day while counting our stolen loot?" Miroku finished for her.

"Something along those lines…"

"Must be a common stereotype in your world. Well, actually the pirates here do that too…"

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "And what? That just doesn't apply to you guys?"

Miroku grinned. "We're a special kind of pirates. The most feared, I might add."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, pirates attack and steal from civilians, correct? We, well, we don't touch civilians. We're like, the pirates to pirates."

Kagome looked confused.

"What I mean is that we steal from pirates."

"Oh…" Kagome gave an amused smile. "So you're kinda like the good pirates. And what you meant by 'most feared' is that you're feared by other pirates because they don't want you taking their loot."

Miroku shrugged. "If you want to put it that way."

"So you're indirectly stealing from civilians."

"Yea – no. Well, er…" He thought for a moment. "Well, if it helps, we don't keep most of it."

Kagome popped a piece of the sautéed beef into her mouth. "Mm-hm."

"It's true. We pick out the stuff we need and then give the rest to towns and whatever places that were attacked by pirates. Also, those pirates that we steal from are usually caught by the authorities, so in the end, everyone's happy. 'Cept for the pirates."

"The authorities don't bother you then?"

"Well, the military is kinda after us. I mean, we're not really supposed to be taking any of the stuff, but you know, we gotta get our supplies from somewhere. Besides, it's only those old conservative idiots that are after us. To be honest, the president, the head of the military, doesn't even bother with us, which is mostly because we're hella good exorcists. See? We're really just helpers of the community."

"In a twisted way."

When Kagome finished eating, Miroku put all the dishes back onto the tray. After assuring him that there was nothing else that she needed, Kagome watched Miroku leave. Her thoughts trailed back to his metal arm and leg. It appeared that there was more to this crew that met the eye.

Kagome sighed. She felt weary. She hadn't been on this world for even a day, yet she was already feeling overwhelmed by emotions and she felt like she was being pressured to adapt quickly to this place. With all this exorcism, pirates, and Undead, it was a bit troublesome to adapt to. And all this talk about Hollows – what exactly was a 'Hollow'?

Kagome went back to her book, but she only got into it for a few minutes when she heard someone knock on her door again. She looked up and her face fell slightly at the sight of Inuyasha leaning on the doorframe.

He grinned brightly. "Well, aren't you happy to see me."

"What do you want?" She asked coldly.

"Oh, well I just wanted you to meet two new friends."

Kagome looked behind him and saw no one.

Inuyasha's grin broadened. "Meet Mr. Mop." From behind his back, he pulled out a mop. "And Mrs. Bucket." With his other hand, he pulled out a bucket full of soap water.

Kagome raised her eyebrows.

"What? You want to stay, you gotta work." He held out the mop and bucket expectantly. "You didn't think I'd let you stay here leisurely did you, _princess_."

With a resentful look, Kagome slammed her book closed, stalked over, and snatched the mop and bucket out of his hands.

"Why don't we start with this hall?" He said as Kagome stepped out of her room.

Kagome placed the bucket down, dipped the mop head into it, and grudgingly began to clean the wooden floors.

Inuyasha smiled patronizingly. "Well, while we're at it, I might as well show you around. Hey, don't stop mopping."

"If you just wanted to show me around your ship, then just do it! You don't have to make me clean your floors!"

He blinked. "But this way, you get a tour and I get clean floors. Two birds with one stone." He turned away, ignoring her look of disgust.

Inuyasha gestured behind her. "Well, you know that's the bathroom. This is my room, quite the misfortune that it's across from yours. And down this hall is the entire crew's quarters."

As Kagome progressed down the hall, she could see that all the doors on her right and left had the occupant's name on thin wooden blocks, which hung from a hook on the door. As they neared the stairs that led up to the deck, they reached the sliding shoji doors.

"In there, is the galley," Inuyasha said. "Where the fire-breathing dragon resides."

"Your cook? She can't be that bad."

"You can't say that. You haven't even met Charlotte yet. Femininity, hell even humanity hardly applies to her."

They walked past the stairs and went down a shorter hall.

"It's a bit strange," Kagome remarked. "I remember watching this documentary on ships – "

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Man, what a nerd…

" – and, well, you're the captain, right?"

He cast her a wary look. "Yeah…"

"Then your room would be largest, right? From of the looks of it, it seems that your room is just as small as everyone's."

Inuyasha turned around to face her fully and placed his hand against the bulkhead. "While you're on this ship, there's one thing you have to understand," he said. "The _Fortis Libertas_ is unlike any ship you have ever seen or will ever see."

"And how is that?"

"I built this ship. She's not going to be some damn cookie-cutter boat."

"You built this ship?" Kagome's voice was incredulous.

"Uh, yeah."

Kagome laughed. "Right, and it took you how long? 10 years?"

"Ha, ha, that's funny because it took me 15 weeks."

Her face immediately grew serious. "You're lying."

Inuyasha gave her a brief pert smile before he wheeled around and walked on.

Kagome picked up the bucket and hurried after him. 15 weeks? That wasn't possible. The _Fortis Libertas_ was not a small dinky boat. He couldn't have built this boat on his own in 15 weeks!

Inuyasha stopped at the first door he reached. "This is sort of our electronic room, a.k.a. Laurence's 'Jungle of Wires'. He's our electronic specialist and –"

"How could you have built this ship in 15 weeks? I mean, this ship is like a-a schooner or a-a…shebec –"

"This is ship is actually a mix of a frigate and a sloop," Inuyasha said smartly.

Her mouth hung open. "That makes it even more impossible!"

"Well, what can I say? I'm just good. Now as I was saying, this is where all our nifty little gadgets and stuff are made and stored."

"But that still doesn't make any sense! 15 weeks is too short of a time to build a ship."

Inuyasha acted as if he hadn't heard her and knocked the door. A muffled "what?" came from behind the door.

"Mm, Laurence's in here," he said. He opened the door and walked in.

Kagome fought the urge to jab the back of his head with her mop. Instead, she placed it against the bulkhead and went in after him. She blinked. _What in the world?_ Metal shelves full of electronic parts, manuals, tools, wires, and other electronic components were crammed into the small room. Among them was a large desk. Despite the mess around them, the contents on the desk were kept neat and orderly. But it was like an elaborate computer workstation – two tower CPUs, a flat-screen monitor with speakers, and an array of hard drives. Several foreign-looking gadgets were stacked around on the desk along with a large lamp and a magnifying glass attached to a stand. Sitting at the desk was Laurence, who seemed to be working on something with the magnifying glass between him and the thing.

Laurence glanced up and when he saw Inuyasha, he said, "How did you do so much damage to this camera? You said you only fell on it, right? Since it was in your pack with all that stuff padded around it…"

"Well, actually, I dropped it," Inuyasha admitted.

"Still, I designed it so it –"

"No, no. I dropped it and then I fell on it."

Laurence let out what sounded like something between a groan and a whimper before going back to the mini-camera. When he glanced up again and saw Kagome, he said, "Giving our guest a little tour?"

"Laurence, did Inuyasha build this ship in 15 weeks?" she asked. It was still bothering her.

He blinked. "15 weeks and two days to be exact."

She stared ignoring Inuyasha's look of triumph. "You're kidding me."

"Well, he didn't build it himself, if that's what you're thinking. He did the blueprints for this ship by himself, but Daisuke and Miroku helped him with the actual labor work."

Okay, so that made a little more sense, but still…

"15 weeks is still an awfully short time," she said quietly.

"Well, you should know by now that Inuyasha, Miroku, and Daisuke – those three aren't actually ordinary people, now are they?" Laurence said.

Inuyasha sneered at her. "Didn't I say, "I'm just good"? But I guess that would be hard to swallow for a puny girl like you."

Laurence frowned and opened his mouth to say something but Inuyasha was already ushering Kagome ("Why you arrogant, pig-headed –") out. He led her to the room next door. He flipped on the light switch and she peered in.

"This is our little armory. This is Chiaki's workstation since he specializes in weaponry."

Kagome's jaw dropped. Lined up on the bulkheads were guns, rifles, and pistols of all sizes, along with swords, bows, and arrows. The whole room was just filled with weapons. In the center of the room was a long table with large lamp and a disassembled machine gun with tools lying around it. Kagome was just about to step inside when Inuyasha suddenly closed the door.

"Yeah, like I'd let you touch a weapon. Alright, next." He gestured the door across from them. "That's our infirmary."

Kagome waited for him to open the door for her as he had did for the last two rooms, but instead, he turned and started to walk on.

"Wait," she called out. "You're not going to let me look inside the infirmary?"

He turned around. "Um, right, well, our healer's a bit in a foul mood today."

"With you, you mean."

"Hey, pick up your mop," Inuyasha snapped suddenly. "No one said you were done." He went on to the end of the hall.

Kagome scoffed indignantly and grabbed her God-forsaken mop. When she reached him, Inuyasha opened the door and walked into –

"This is the control room," he announced. "The brain of the _Fortis Libertas_."

It was a substantially large room. When she walked in, right next to her was a ladder that led up to a second hatch. In front of her was a long table, looking almost like a conference table. All over the table were maps of all sizes and many other documents. Behind the long table was a huge screen with smaller screens surrounding it, and beneath it a more elaborate workstation. Kagome wanted to walk around and give the room a closer look when she found herself being pushed out by Inuyasha.

"Okay," he said, "Next place."

"Rushing through this tour a bit, aren't we?"

"The sooner this is over the better."

They approached amidship again where the stairs were. Kagome then saw that the stairs went down to another level.

Inuyasha pointed up to the hatch above. "That's the main hatch. The one you saw in the control room is just a secondary one," he explained.

She followed Inuyasha down the stairs to a narrower hallway. The floor was grated and the lighting in the hall had a reddish tint. Along the hall laid crates, barrels, and so on. Inuyasha walked to a steel door and turned around to face Kagome.

"Now this room is the best room on this entire ship. No touch, look only."

_Behind that door must be where he stashes all his loot_, Kagome immediately thought. Though when Inuyasha opened the door, what she was looking at wasn't exactly the kind of treasure she was expecting.

It was this large mechanism with generators whirring, gears grinding, and steam blowing. There was some sort of control panel on the machine with dials, buttons, and handles, along with several meters depicting pressure, heat, and so forth. Across from the machine was a table with wrenches, screwdrivers, drills, screws, nails, and more tools scattered about it.

"If the control room is the brain of the _Fortis Libertas_, this room would be the heart – the engine room." Inuyasha beamed. "My pride and joy."

Oh, so that was what it was…

_What a strange thing to be proud of_, Kagome pondered, looking at Inuyasha strangely.

"Okay, last room," he announced, leading her to the other end of the hall. "This room is our cargo hold. Our storage room. Your room was actually a storage room too, until we had to clear it out for you to move in." He opened the door.

_So then, this would be where all his loot is kept_, she thought. But Kagome was surprised again. It wasn't filled with gold, silver, rare gems, and the usual pirate treasure she was expecting. The first things that caught her attention were the racks upon racks of clothing that filled the room. There were clothes of all different kinds, each set looking completely different from the next. Then under the racks were shoes – boots, sandals, slippers, and many other different sorts. Next to the racks were shelves with little cubbies, and each one was labeled with its contents. There were also several large chests, all lined up next to each other.

"Disappointed?" Inuyasha asked, noting the look on her face.

"What? Oh, no, it's just…not exactly what I expected."

He gave a brief chuckle. "You were probably expecting this then." He kicked open one of the chest. Kagome looked inside and her breath caught in her throat.

The chest was filled with gold and silver pieces, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. Kagome's eyes grew wide as saucers.

She looked up at Inuyasha. "You only have five chests. That's hardly fit for a crew of pirates."

"Actually, we only have one chest full of this stuff. In the other chests, they're just full of hats, goggles, rolls of fabric, and that kind of stuff. We didn't have any extra boxes so we picked up these chests instead."

"You only have one chest of treasure?" Her tone was incredulous.

But he just shrugged. "You know about us being pirates to pirates, right? Well, if we take more, we get pressed for more charges. We're sought after criminals as it is. Besides, what's in this chest is more than enough."

He left her to look at the "loot" by herself as he went to talk to Shun, who was sitting at a desk in the corner reading a book.

Kagome turned to look at the racks of clothes. It was like a mini-mall…She started to look through the clothes and recognized that some of them were very similar to some of the traditional clothes back home. She found kimonos and yukatas, and she found some garments that were from other cultures too. She went to the next rack and saw that all the garments had a thin plastic covering over them. Looking through each one, she noticed that each set needed some mending. Some pants were torn, or tunics were dirty, or shirts were reduced to rags. There was this one set that she recognized from this morning. They were the clothes that Inuyasha and Miroku had come in from their recent exorcism.

She heard Inuyasha come up from behind her. She turned and commented, "These clothes look very Chinese. Well, from many decades back when they were still worn."

Inuyasha light rapped his knuckles on her head. "Hey, we're not in your world anymore, remember? These clothes are from Xingli – that's where I went this morning."

"Right," Kagome muttered as she rubbed her forehead. "I have to say, you have a pretty big wardrobe."

"They're for all the countries that we go to. When we go out for a job or whatever, we don't want to draw attention, so we wear something of their culture."

"Makes sense. So is Shun sort of your culture expert?"

"Something like that. Speaking of which, Shun will get you dressed and I will meet you on deck in a half hour." He turned to leave.

Kagome gave him a confused look. "Getting dressed for what? Am I going somewhere?"

"Zephlin. To do a little sight-seeing. Besides, I thought you would be relieved to get out of those clothes," He said, jerking his head to the clothes that she had been wearing since she left home. His hand waved lazily at her as he left. "See you in a half hour."

Kagome stood transfixed in her spot, trying to process what he had just said. She turned to look at Shun. "Wait, so…why am I going to Zephlin?"

----------------

Miroku watched Inuyasha polish the pistol meticulously with a rag. "So you're not taking the Tessaiga?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Come on, it's Zephlin. It's not like I need to."

Miroku shifted in his seat. "Well, why bring any kind of weapon? This outing should be fun for you too. Bringing that thing, you're just going to spoil the whole night."

"I'm just taking a precaution," he said, not looking up. "If something comes up, like a Hollow or a demon, I'll be ready to take it on."

"And what about Kagome?"

He shrugged. "I'll keep her out of the way. Anyways, is Chiaki done with those bullets that he's been working on for the last week?"

"No, I'm not," Chiaki coming out of the main hatch with Toji behind him. He put a small device into Inuyasha's hand. "Here, this is how we're going to keep in touch with you."

Inuyasha held it up and raised his eyebrow. "Cellphone."

"Yup," Chiaki clapped him on the shoulder. "With it, you'll fit right in with the Zephlin crowd. Oh, and you might wanna…" He gestured to his head.

Inuyasha blinked. "Oh…right." He sighed heavily. He hated pinning his ears down. It was literally a total pain. It was funny how he could get away with his white hair and gold eyes, but his ears would be a dead giveaway.

"So when am I going to meet this Kagome?" Charlotte piped up from where she was sitting, peeling potatoes with Ling.

"To be honest, I'd rather that you don't ever meet her," Inuyasha said.

"Oh, tish-tosh. I think it would be good for me to meet her. It'll be nice to have another female around."

"Another?" He tried to look serious. "Since when did the word 'female' ever apply to you?"

"You're lucky you're eating out tonight."

Which was why he was being especially pert. Inuyasha grinned and turned around to see Kagome emerged from the hatch, all dressed up in the unique style of Zephlin. He discreetly slid his pistol into his knapsack, ignoring the warning looks that Miroku was sending him.

"Oh, good! Our princess has finally arrived," he said with false enthusiasm.

Kagome shot him a wry smile and just opened her mouth when Charlotte approached.

She wiped her hands on her apron and held one out to Kagome. "We haven't been introduced yet. I'm –"

"Yes, yes, introductions," Inuyasha cut in. "Our ride's coming so let's make this quick, shall we? Stupid moron, meet fire-breathing dragon. Fire-breathing dragon, stupid moron. Good! Now we all know each other." He turned away and walked to the side of the ship.

Kagome looked Inuyasha with disgust before giving Charlotte an apologetic bow.

"That was rude," she said when she reached his side.

"Whatever," he muttered, not giving her much attention.

Kagome scoffed softly. She was beginning to consider bailing out of this trip but the curiosity of this "Zephlin" place got to her. "So how are we getting there?" she asked, seeing that they were pretty far from shore.

"A cruise ship should be coming by soon. We'll be hitching a ride."

"What, by just –"

" – Jumping right on."

"Why can't we just go into the harbor over there?"

"Well, I've been trying to keep the _Fortis Libertas_ from being seen from civilians, the military, and the like for about two years. The only ones who have seen her are the pirates, and they don't exactly go running to the authorities to report me, now do they? Sorry, princess, but you're not worth sending out the _Fortis Libertas_ for all to see."

"So you don't let people see your ship because if you docked at some random town, people might recognize you ship and you'll be handed to the authorities."

"Smart girl. Nice to know that you got some brains in you."

"So how are we going to jump on without any the passengers or crew noticing us?"

"Relax, we'll be jumping from behind and all the passengers will be inside packing their things or partying."

"And how do you know that?"

"I checked the ship's events schedule. They're having this huge party below deck; anyone who's anyone will be down there."

"What if someone's still hanging around on deck?" Kagome challenged. "Or what about the crew?"

"No one's going to see us," he said in an irritated tone. "Just trust me for a little bit, okay? Ah, here's our ride."

A distance away, a huge cruise ship was slowly sailing by. Inuyasha pulled her up onto rim. She looked down and gulped.

"You know, that's quite a distance –"

"We'll make it."

"Don't stay out too late, kids," Ling called out from behind.

Inuyasha gestured rudely back before he wrapped his arm around Kagome's slim waist and secured his knapsack around his other shoulder.

"Ready?" he asked. But before she could answer, they were already in the air.

Chiaki watched them sail over a hundred feet over the water and land on the highest deck on the cruise ship. He could see Kagome, the smaller silhouette, slip and fall. The larger silhouette, Inuyasha, seemed to be shaking with laughter before being knocked off his feet himself.

He turned to Toji. "I bet five yuros that he screws up the date."

Toji grinned. "You're on."

* * *

**FAQs**

**Are all the original cast (Sango, Sesshomaru, Rin, Naraku, etc.) going to be making an appearance?**

They will in due time.

**Who in the world is Daisuke (Current love interest of Kag's in "Double Life" but that's all I know)?**

You probably noticed that Chiaki, Shun, and Toji are from DL too. But yeah, all four of them are from DL. I'm just reusing my OCs.


	5. My Favorite Place

**AN:** Another update?? In the same month…? No…I don't think you're the only crazy here…

* * *

**The Broken Horn **

**Chapter 5**

**My Favorite Place**

* * *

Zephlin – a city full of life, lights, and tall buildings. It was famous for its growing fondness for technology. Nicknamed the Electric City, Zephlin was the place where all mobile phones, computers, and all gadget-related technology came from. But most of all, Zephlin was literally a city of lights. Many towering buildings had large electronic billboards, flashing commercials and the like, and streets were constantly illuminated. As for the fashion, the people of Zephlin wore semi-tight clothing and basically, the funkier the style and the brighter the colors, the trendier you were. 

Walking down the busy street, Kagome watched the people around her. Many had bright-colored hair, carrying flashy handbags and were chattering animatedly into their cell phones. Vendors sat along the sidewalk, selling jewelry and many other odd little trinkets. Across from them were department stores, mostly ones that sold clothes and electronics. The cars that filled the streets were electric cars, sleek and curvy. Kagome looked excitedly around her. It was like a Neo-Tokyo fast forward a couple of decades.

"Zephlin is actually one of the few cities that doesn't have some sort of station or headquarters for the military," Inuyasha said. Occasionally, he would feed her some tidbits of information about the bustling place. "The Zephlin officials wouldn't let them so they had to settle in a smaller city that's pretty near here."

"Why?"

"No room, and the officials refused to knock down any of their buildings in the areas that the military wanted. That's the 'official' reason but everyone knows that the real reason is that they hated the military's uniforms. Said they were too ugly and it would be disgraceful to see people walking in those uniforms in Zephlin's streets."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "That's rather superficial."

"That's Zephlin for ya."

They turned at the corner and down the street was a large and busy marketplace.

Inuyasha gestured to the café next to them and told Kagome, "Hang around here for a while. I'm going to get some stuff and I'll be right back. Don't wander off."

He left her and once he entered the marketplace, he pulled out the list Charlotte gave him and his flip phone. He dialed and held the phone to his ear with one hand while he looked for radishes.

When he spotted them, the other line picked up. _"So how's the date going?"_ It was Toji, in an annoyingly playful tone.

"I'm getting the stuff for Charlotte," Inuyasha said, ignoring Toji's question. "I need someone to come down here to pick it up. I'm in the Jouza marketplace." Not waiting for a response, Inuyasha immediately hung up.

He quickly went through the long list, thinking if he was not hasty, Kagome would get bored and go off on her own. He was picking out plums, the last thing on his list, when he noticed a teen with bright green hair and piercing on his nose, eyebrows, and ears, standing near an ice cream stall was giving him a toothy grin. Inuyasha dumped the plums into a plastic bag and paid for them. He then collected all of his things and approached the green-haired boy.

"I think I look dashing, don't you?" the boy said.

Inuyasha stared at Chiaki. "Compared to what?"

Chiaki grinned and was just opening his mouth when Inuyasha shoved the bags of food into his arms.

"It's not a date," he snapped. He turned on his heel and left, muttering incoherently.

When he reached the café, he saw that he had guessed right seeing that Kagome was leaving. He caught her arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

She looked at him innocently. "I was going to go look for you."

He gave her a brief wry smile. "Nice."

She pulled her arm away from him. "Well, you were taking too long."

"I was in there for like, twenty minutes," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Come on, I'm getting bored. Take me someplace interesting."

"Fine," he said flatly. He turned around and immediately twisted his face in the most disgusted expression he could make. This day had better go by fast…

Kagome walked quickly to his side. "You know, you're a lot more famous than I thought you'd be."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, while I was in the café, there was this guy telling stories. What did he call them…oh! 'The grand adventures of the heroic Inuyasha and his loyal crew'!" She said in a mocking tone.

"Was it an old guy? Curly white hair? Big ugly nose? Yeah, he's a loon. Don't ever believe a thing he says."

"Well, that kind of explains it," Kagome said thoughtfully. "'Heroic' is a hardly the word that describes you. So I suppose that you didn't kill the wailing cat demon, Eera, with only one hand?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Finished her off with one shot of my gun."

"Did you protect a village from a group of evil shinigami who were trying to steal the village's treasure?"

He gave her a confused look. "Huh? Where did he get…Oh! No! That senile bastard…There were just a group of cricket demons and they were trying to steal my ship's food. And shinigami just regulate the dead; stealing treasure doesn't benefit them at all."

"Well, how about being nearly seduced by a beautiful necromancer but then your loyal and invincible crew saved you and finished off the evil necromancer in…what was it…oh, vengeance."

"Uh, noo…it was Miroku who was being seduced until I knocked him out with the butt of my gun."

"And the necromancer?"

"We tied her up and threw her into this underground temple that's supposedly cursed."

"Did she die?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Haven't seen her since."

"Okay, what about being enchanted by a demon and then running into a gay strip club with only a towel on?"

"Hey!" Inuyasha snapped. "You wanna get somewhere interesting fast, then stop asking me questions and slowing me down." He turned and stalked away.

Kagome blinked. What was he getting all testy about? She only made that one up…Kagome sighed and hurried after the fuming hanyou.

----

The Higurashi Shrine was quiet and serene as Tetsuya walked up its steps. Hefting the books in his arms in a more comfortable position, he approached the house and knocked on the door. It opened to reveal a weary – looking Mrs. Higurashi.

"Mihara!" She said, surprised. "This is a pleasant surprise."

"Sorry for coming here so suddenly." Tetsuya frowned in concern. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh no, no, of course not," Mrs. Higurashi rushed. "I didn't sleep well last night so um…what brings you here, Mihara?"

"Ah, well, I just brought some books that Kagome wanted to borrow. Um, is it all right if I see her?"

"Oh…um…" She began to look troubled.

"Did something happen? Is she sick? Did she collapse?" Tetsuya said in a worried tone. "I told her to take it easy –"

"Mihara, calm down," she said. "Kagome's…" Mrs. Higurashi paused, unsure whether she should tell him. She looked at him again. When she saw the genuine worry in his face, she let out a heavy sigh. "Mihara, why don't you come in? There's something I think you need to know."

----

He took her every place interesting he could think of. He took her to Methpor Plaza, Zephlin's most popular shopping area. Then they went to the roof of Zephlin's tallest skyscraper where Kagome practically screamed at him when he pretended to fall off. He got a pretty good laugh out of that until she clocked him over the head with one of her heavy shopping bags. In the end, he brought her to Zephlin's famous Blossom Park, which was located in the middle of the city. It was known for its many blossoming trees, cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, and basically all the blossoms that existed.

With two ice cream cones in both of his hands, Inuyasha walked over to the bench that Kagome was sitting on. He handed her one before sitting down, stretching out leisurely with one arm hanging lazily over the back of the bench.

Kagome licked her strawberry-vanilla ice cream. "You know, this park is awfully clean," she commented. "Not to mention, it seems a little out of place in this electronic-modern city."

"Well, Zephlin is obviously a very techy like place so you probably noticed that there isn't a lot of nature-like stuff on the streets. This park is the only place that's full of, you know, nature, so the people here try very hard to preserve it. It's like a 30,000 yuro fine if you litter."

"Yuro?"

"It's the equivalent of yen in your world."

Kagome frowned slightly as she looked back to her ice cream. "You know, in some ways, this world is a lot like mine."

Inuyasha shrugged. "I never said it would be completely different. But when I went over to your world, I saw that there were a lot of major differences."

"Like what?"

"For one thing, you guys don't have Undead things, Hollows, and wild demons running around."

She turned to look at him. "You know, I never really understood this whole exorcism thing. Why don't you explain it to me?"

"What?" he said in a reluctant tone. "It's long and complicated, and I don't really –"

"You promised you'd answer any question I ask."

He gave her a strained look. "Fine," he said. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, first off, what's a Hollow?"

Ha, easy question. "Hollows are basically fallen souls. You see, there're two types of souls. There are the normal spirits – which we usually call ghosts. Then there are Hollows which basically evil spirits. They attack the living and the dead indiscriminately and eat their souls. They usually take form of monsters with white masks, and they have a hole in their chests because they've lost their hearts."

Kagome gave him a skeptical look, wondering if he was adding unnecessary details in attempts to scare her. She began eating her cone and said, "I see, so people like you get rid of them?"

"Basically, but not everyone can see a Hollow, only people with a lot of spiritual pressure – or power can. Like I can see them, which is a given because I'm half-demon. Daisuke can; also a given since he's somewhat of a shinigami, and Miroku. Chiaki and Shun can kind of see them; it's more of a blur for them. But yeah, only certain exorcists can deal with them and some people in the Holy Orders – which is basically a department of the Church that specializes in what I deal with: Undead, Hollows, and unruly demons. But Hollows are usually the shinigami's job. Anything that involves spirits and Hollows involves shinigami."

"So what do the shinigami do exactly?"

"For the good spirits, they perform this thing called 'konsou', which is sort of like a soul funeral that sends them to the Soul Realm – it's a place where souls hang out 'til they die a final Death. For Hollows, shinigami kill them with swords called zankpatou."

"And you categorize them?"

"Oh, well, I don't know if anyone else does that. We only do that so we know what we're up against. There are five levels and you can usually tell what level they are by their masks."

"Ooh," Kagome said, understanding. "That clears up a lot of things. Well, what about demons? Will the cleric people actually go after you and try to kill you?"

"The people who go after demons are the demon bounty hunters and the Church. If a certain Order wants to exorcise a demon, they have to get clearance first."

"Clearance? From who?"

Inuyasha popped the rest of his ice cream cone into his mouth. After he chewed enough of it to speak, he said, "The higher echelons of the Church. This society consists of both humans and demons. If some Order kills off some innocent demon, they'll get in trouble for that. But, most of the demons that screw around are the much weaker kinds with half-developed minds and no common sense. They mostly live by instinct so they pretty much attack indiscriminately. And bounty hunters don't need clearance because the demons they're after are already on the 'wanted' list so it all works out in the end."

"It seems like when you add everything up, this world is pretty dangerous."

"Not really, depends on where you go. This world has its perks. To be honest, I'd rather be here than in your world." He glanced at her. "Any more questions, princess?"

Kagome nibbled on her cone as she thought. Her eyes were then suddenly drawn to the trinket that hung around Inuyasha's neck.

"That's an interesting looking pocket watch," she pointed out.

Inuyasha looked down at the odd-looking thing. "This old thing? Doesn't even work."

"Then why you do still carry it around with you?"

He shrugged. "It was a gift." End of discussion.

Kagome sighed and pulled her legs up onto the bench, and smoothed out her skirt so it covered her knees.. "You know, sometimes, I find it very hard to figure you out."

He looked at her at the corner of his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I first met you, you were – well, now I see you as conniving and deceitful but then, you seemed like a clever, smooth-talker. Then afterwards, you became this loud, pompous jerk and then…and then, you do something like this," she said, implying this outing.

Inuyasha stared nonchalantly at the crystal blue lake far in front of them. "I'll be whatever I want to get what I want," he replied lightly.

Kagome turned her gaze away from him and said softly, "Apparently so."

Inuyasha's jaw twitched; he needed a change of subject. "So," he said in a fake hearty tone, "of all the places we've been to, which one's your favorite?"

"My favorite place?" Kagome looked thoughtful. "I don't know…"

"You don't know? Puh-lease, there's gotta be at least one spot that you really liked."

"Well, looking down from the roof of that skyscraper was nice. Seeing all those lights from so high up – it was a nice treat for the eyes. And this park is really pretty too, not to mention it smells wonderful." She turned her head to look at him. "What's your favorite place?"

He gave her a slightly surprised look. "My favorite place in Zephlin? Oh, I don't really have a –"

"Nuh-uh. If you think that I have to have a favorite spot, then you got to have one too."

Inuyasha's lip quirked. He stayed quiet for a short moment as he thought.

"Is it a place we've already gone to?" she asked.

He looked back at her with a hint of a smile. "Finish up your ice cream and then I'll take you there."

----

Daisuke yawned and stretched his arms as he walked up to the deck from below with Nina close on his heels.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."

Toji, who had spoken, tossed a small ball to Laurence who was all the way on the other end of the ship. Daisuke looked around him and noted that they were anchored since the ship was not moving.

"You know, I know you sleep a lot and I know you probably been told this before, but recently, you've been sleeping a whole lot more than usual. Is something the matter?" Toji asked as he caught the ball Laurence had tossed back.

Daisuke shrugged. "I just felt adding a couple more hours to my naps, that's all. Where are we?" he asked.

"About a mile off from Zephlin."

He looked at Toji confused. "Why?"

Toji threw the ball again. "Inuyasha took the little miss out for a little sightseeing."

"Ah."

Daisuke slowly walked to the side of the ship and folded his arms on top of the wooden rim. He closed his eyes and relaxed in the soft ocean breeze. He tried to reflect on the dream he had just woken up from when he felt a very faint negative wave pulse from the direction of the city. He frowned and opened his eyes. The city looked normal, with its bright lights flashing. But then from his side, Nina began to growl. The hair on the back of her neck rose and her lip curled up to reveal nasty-sharp teeth.

Daisuke softly shushed her and placed his hand on top of her head. He closed his eyes again and honed his senses to make sure what he felt wasn't a false alarm. He then heard Toji speak up from behind him.

"What is it?"

Daisuke didn't answer as opened his eyes again and his frown grew deeper. He knew what this aura meant but something familiar about it was bugging him - suddenly, his eyes widened and he turned on his heel, and headed toward the Control Room.

"Get everyone to the Control Room," he ordered in a "don't ask questions, just do it" tone. "_Now._"

-----

"Iced pearl tea drinks! Get your pearl tea drinks! Freshly made and absolutely delicious!" the boy shouted, standing next to his drink stall. He had just finished making one and he placed it along side of the others. "Get your pearl tea drinks!"

He spot a couple past him and he stopped the white-haired young man, and asked, "Excuse me, sir, would you like a freshly made pearl tea drink for you and your ladyfriend?" He secretly eyed the girl and noted that she was exceptionally pretty.

The young man held his hand up to decline the offer and continued to walk down the street with the girl along side of him.

"Excuse me."

The boy turned around and his face brightened at the sight of a customer.

"Hello!" he said in a cheery tone. "Which favor would you like?" He turned to the row of drinks that he had lined up. "We have –" The boy stared and blinked. He suddenly looked around with an expression of bewilderment on his face.

One of the pearl tea drinks was missing.

----

Inuyasha took a sip from the cup using the extra wide straw. He held the melon pearl tea drink out to Kagome. "Want some?" he asked.

Kagome blinked in surprise. "Where did you get –" she looked disapprovingly at him. "Did you steal it?"

"Hey, do you want it or not?"

After a couple moments of thought, Kagome plucked the cup out of his hands and took a sip from it herself. Before long, she found herself following Inuyasha down alleys. The clean, silver buildings began to disappear and in their place stood shorter, shabbier and gloomier buildings.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"We're in the slums of Zephlin – or what used to be."

It sure looked like a "used to be". There were no signs of any life in the any of the buildings and the atmosphere seemed a little dreary. Most of the buildings themselves seemed dirty and drab. The sun still shone through, creating soft spotlights throughout the area that gave off earthy warmth. Then they stopped walking.

Kagome looked up and saw what seemed to be a run-down church. Its large circular stained glass rose window above the doors was dirty and had some missing pieces. Dirt wedged itself between the intricate patterns that ran across the wall and along the doorframe of the double doors. The doors themselves had a special design and seemed to be made of a heavy metal.

She was instantly reminded of the cathedrals that she had seen during her family trip to Europe. Souta, who was only five at the time, burst into tears when he found out that it wasn't a hunchback who was ringing the bells of the Notre Dame cathedral, but just an ordinary monk. Kagome smiled as she remembered Souta's cries, amplified by the large cathedral for all of the tourists to hear, and how her mother and she had tried to calm Souta down while they hurried out. Once they exited, Kagome couldn't help but burst out in laughter and her mother and grandfather soon joined her while Souta smiled, embarrassed.

An ache started to grow within her chest. She had left without even leaving a note and she was starting to regret her decision to leave home. How was her family? She knew they must be extremely worried about her. And what about her grandfather? Was he okay? Did he leave the hospital all right? Was Souta sleeping okay? She knew that he wouldn't sleep well for many days without at least one story being told to him. What about her mother? She must have so many more things to do now, having to take over Kagome's responsibilities over the shrine and the house along with her own.

Kagome's fist clenched. How could she be so selfish?

"Hey, are you coming or what?"

Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha had opened one of the church's double doors. He disappeared behind the door and with a sigh she quickly followed after him.

There were two rows of stained glass windows on both of the walls and in front of them were pillars of gray stone and wooden pews that ran further down into the church. Above, simple, black, iron chandeliers hung candle-less from the rafters. As Kagome walked down the aisle between the rows of pews, she saw the pews that were closest to the end of the church were broken and the front row of pews were shattered into wooden pieces. Against the back stone wall hung a plain dark wooden cross. Next to it on both sides were maroon banners with ripped ends. Before the cross was a small stone altar and in front it were missing floorboards. In their stead was a flowerbed of white and yellow flowers. Right next to the bed, that section of the wall had collapsed and all that remained was a high rubble of gray rock and blocks of the stone pillars. The part of the ceiling above the collapsed wall was gone and its remains were scattered among the pile of rock. Warm sunbeams poured through from the hole in the ceiling, the flowers soaking in the light. Despite its many imperfections, the church seemed to radiate beauty.

Then it struck her. All the while she was here in Zephlin, she had not spotted one church.

In front of her, Inuyasha inhaled deeply and took a seat on one of the fallen pillars.

"Is this the only church here?" she asked him.

He thought for a moment. "Of what I've seen of Zephlin, yeah."

"That's a bit strange," she commented. "This is the city's only church and it's practically in shambles."

"Zephlin used to be a religious city," Inuyasha said as he lifted his head and slowly looked around the church. "It used to be full of churches and that sort. But back then, for some reason, the city slowly began to be infested with Undead and demons. Then, I think it was about 40 years ago, the Shinigami and the Church made a pact and to start off their new partnership they started the project to clean out Zephlin. When they came, they realized that they had underestimated how infested the city was so cleaning it out took longer than expected. Battles were violent and people were getting killed. Even creatures that never bothered anyone came out and attacked.

"Civilians then started to take shelter in their churches, praying for protection. But churches were getting destroyed, sometimes during the midst of battles. It came to the point where this church was the only one left and the remaining civilians hid here. What was weird was that incomplete as it was," Inuyasha gestured to the rubble behind him, "everyone who stayed in here stayed unhurt. No demon or Undead creature could enter or even touch the church. After the city was cleaned out, the church was revered and plans were made to rebuild it. But then Zephlin became wrapped up in technology and just as quickly the church was forgotten. This neighborhood turned into unoccupied slums and this church along with this area was abandoned."

"And then Zephlin rebuilt itself and turned into a city of technological advancement," Kagome finished for him softly.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Yeah, that's basically it."

It was a bit of a pity, really. If this church were to be rebuilt, it would have turned out really nice. Kagome put down her shopping bags and twiddled with ends of her hair as she gazed at the stained glass windows.

"Hey, you know," she said suddenly. "You never told me what you needed my help for."

Inuyasha groaned. "Still on that, are we?"

"You have to tell me some time. Really, what is it?"

"I'm looking for something."

Kagome raised her eyebrows.

"Fine, okay. I'm looking for this thing called the Shikon Jewel."

She frowned, never having heard of it. "What is it?"

There was a gleam in eye. "It's _the_ ultimate treasure."

"Hmph, so there is some pirate in you," she said, feigning an accusing tone.

"I like to use the term 'treasure hunter'. And it's a different kind of treasure," he said idly. "It's not the gold and silver type that you're thinking."

"So then what kind of treasure is it?"

He paused. "…I'm not sure yet."

Kagome deadpanned. "You're kidding me."

"Well, a lot of people are looking for it," Inuyasha said defensively. "So that probably means it has a lot of value."

"So then what? I'm supposed to help you find it?"

He grinned. "Bingo."

"And how does that work? I don't even know what the thing looks like!"

"I don't know either. But, we'll figure it out when we get there."

Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly. "You seem to be going out on a limb here."

"Not exactly. Remember, I told you that I didn't think our meeting was by chance? It wasn't. The device that I used to get to your world led me to _you_."

"Maybe you made a mistake," she countered.

"Doubt it. The instructions on the device were decrypted by my boys, and my boys don't make mistakes."

Kagome fidgeted. "I get the feeling that you don't really know what you're doing."

Inuyasha frowned at her. "Hey, it's not like we picked you up and then decided to go look for the jewel. We've been collecting information and a whole lot of other things beforehand. Now just happened to be the best time to go and find you."

"So, truthfully," she said slowly, "You don't know specifically what I need to do to help you."

"Nope." He eyed her strangely. "Isn't that a good thing for you? Until then, you can now spend your time having fun instead of doing work."

"I-I…guess so…"

But it was still very weird. He wasn't even sure what was it that he needed her to do for him and he didn't even know exactly what he was looking for. But even after all of that, he didn't seem very worried about it, which was what bothered her the most. She doubted it had anything to do with him trusting her; it appeared more to be his reliance and confidence in his crew. It made sense after all since a ship wouldn't truly be able to go anywhere if the captain didn't trust his crew.

She took a sip of her pearl tea and thought quietly, sorting through her thoughts. Then it occurred to her that she had a question that had been nagging to be asked. "Inuyasha?" she finally said.

"What?"

"Why are you an exorcist?"

Her question caught him off guard. "What?"

She sat down on a slab of rock in front of him. "Why did you decide to be an exorcist?"

He paused. "It's what I'm good at."

"Is that it?" she asked with a skeptical look. "To be honest, you're strange assortment of things. You're a pirate, but you don't steal from people. You're a hanyou but you exorcise demons, something that's half of who you are. It's hard for me to believe that you don't have some sort of motivation for doing what you do."

Inuyasha said nothing at first. He just stared at the floorboards, contemplating his answer.

After a long silence, he said in a quiet voice, "My mother was once part of a Holy Order – well, she wasn't a nun, she was just…special and the Church took her in. Specifically the Midoriko Order, which is one of the biggest Holy Orders around. Then…she fell in love, left the Order, and had me. I was still young when my mom died. When I came back to become part of the Order they wouldn't take me in. My mother was no longer there to support me so, then I was just a hanyou that they could close their doors to – and that's what they did. Because I was part demon, they didn't think I was capable of exorcising demons, or of anything. The fact that my mom ran off with a demon didn't exactly give me a good head start and being a creation of their relationship, the echelons of the Midoriko Order aren't exactly fond of me."

"And then what?" Kagome said. "You pulled together a crew and now you're exorcising things to show them that you're better?"

He shrugged. "It's working. For most of the missions that they get sent to, I just get there before they do, do the job quick and clean, and down the drain of embarrassment they go. I'm a hanyou that they kicked out and now that I'm beating them at their own game, it doesn't make them feel so good."

"What are you going to do afterwards? Are you just planning for them to admit that they're wrong, go on their knees and beg for your forgiveness?"

Inuyasha's gaze hardened before looking away. "It's more than that."

Kagome gave back a hard look but decided to drop the question. "So what about the crew? Why did they decide to tag around with you?"

He shrugged. "They got their own personal reasons. Ask them if you want to know."

She frowned. She had got him to talk a little and now he was distancing himself back.

Kagome sighed softly. She stood up and handed him what was left of the drink. He took it without looking up. Biting her bottom lip, she turned away and approached the flowerbed.

"Who tends to these flowers?" she asked.

"Don't know. Every time I come around here, the flowers look the same but I never see anyone around."

Kagome smiled to herself. It was kind of a neat thought that maybe someone here remembered this church and would come every once in awhile to care for the flowers; or maybe even that there was something about this church that kept the flowers thriving.

"So…this is your favorite place?" she asked.

"…Yeah."

It made sense, didn't it? He was hanyou, a creation of two very different beings. He had gone back to where his mother has been taken care of and he had been rejected. And now, this place that kept out evils even at the worst hours opened its doors to him. It made sense if this church was one of the few places where he felt that he belonged.

Kagome stared at the flowers, watching them glow under their warm spotlight.

She turned around and smiled at Inuyasha. "It's my favorite place too."

He gazed back at her with an unreadable expression before looking away to the floorboards. Then a humming sound broke through the peaceful atmosphere. Inuyasha dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his vibrating mobile phone.

He flipped it open. "Yeah?"

It was faint but Kagome was able to recognize Toji's voice. The playfulness was gone from his voice; his tone was serious.

_"I got bad news for you, bro."_

_

* * *

_

**AN:** I haven't been asked any questions so I hope I'm right to assume that everyone is following the story well so far?

Ah yes, and there's something that I just want to clear up. First off, I don't know if my disclaimer wasn't that clear in the first chapter, but what I was trying to say was...Well, _The Broken Horn_ is basically made up of many elements, each from different sources, stories, or what have you. Hence, the metal arm thing being from Fullmetal Alchemist and also, I don't know the extent as to how much you guys know about the series but the government system in BH will be pretty much based off of the one in Fullmetal. Then through the progression of this story, you'll probably notice some of the elements of it are from other stories. That's why in the beginning I already doubted the originality of the story itself.

This story, in my opinion, is sort of like a melting pot of pieces and tidbits of many stories (but I disclaimed it so I hope that's okay then... . ) along with some hopefully original ideas (that are actually my **own** ideas . ). So when people say, "Oh my god! This is totally original!!" I cringe because it's not particularly true and I then know that people aren't reading my author's notes very carefully. So please read them. They're not always full of gibberish and nonsense.

Edit: I forgot to add this in - A plate of cookies to the person who can guess where that church that Kagome and Inuyasha are in is originally from.


	6. Promise

**Author's Note:** (smiles sheepishly) Yeah, it's Aerith's Church from Final Fantasy 7. A plate of cookies for all the people who guessed it right.

* * *

**The Broken Horn**

**Chapter Six**

**Promise**

"You shouldn't have told him."

Daisuke turned around to see Miroku.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Inuyasha's closest; it's only reasonable to send him after the demon."

Miroku stared at him gravely. "Kagome's with him. She'll be in danger and she'll put the mission at risk."

Daisuke didn't seem worried. "I trust Inuyasha to keep her out of danger. You and I both know that Inuyasha doesn't drag innocent people into his fights. Kagome will be fine."

"You seem so certain."

"I am." He gave him a brief smile and left the control room.

Miroku turned to face the wide-screen computer, which was now displaying a grid-map of Zephlin's slums.

He exhaled softly and said to himself. "It's not the physical danger that I'm worried about."

………

Kagome had to run to keep up with Inuyasha's jogging pace and it wasn't very easy since she was wearing a skirt. The minute Inuyasha hung up the cellphone, they were out the door and were diving deeper in the slums.

"What's going on?" Kagome asked in puffs. "Where are we going?"

"There's a demon near here," Inuyasha answered as he dug into his knapsack that hung in front of him.

"You're pulling a job _now_?"

"This demon's been terrorizing people for a long time. It's always on the move so we could never get a fixed location. The fact that we now have its whereabouts is pretty lucky."

"But –"

"This demon targets children, Kagome. I'm the closest one to it. Relax, I'm not going to drag you into it."

She never said anything about being worried about being dragged into this, but it was slightly touching. She smiled softly. So the Midoriko Order wasn't the only reason he was an exorcist.

"So why are you able to get a fixed location on it now?" she asked.

"It means she's feeding." Inuyasha freed his ears and clipped on his earpiece. "Eagle to base, do you copy?"

_"Copy that."_ It was Toji who responded.

"Requesting location of the subject." He pulled out an electronic device before closing the sack and swinging it onto his back.

_"Acknowledged, Eagle. Stand by, over."_ There was a brief silence. _"Downloading coordinates."_

Kagome almost crashed into Inuyasha when he abruptly stopped. He pulled out a short antenna out of the top of his device and held it in front of him. He began to circle the empty street they were on until the device emitted a rapid beeping sound. He immediately turned the device off and pushed in the antenna with a snap. Kagome looked up and saw that they had stopped in front of a shabby two-story building. Its door was already open.

Inuyasha pulled out a pistol and gestured her to follow him inside. Kagome stared at him. He was kidding, right? He wasn't actually suggesting that she go in a building that was in a terrible need of a new paint job.

When he saw that she wasn't moving, Inuyasha gave an impatient growl and pulled her in with him.

"Going radio-silent until subject's destroyed," he muttered.

_"Roger that."_

Inuyasha pressed his earpiece and cautiously looked around the place. "You stay here," he said to her as he handed her his knapsack.

Kagome gladly obliged. The room was dreary and there was broken furniture everywhere. Shredded fabric hung from the walls and cobwebs fluttered at the corners. She spotted a bench that was still in one piece and she moved to sit on it. The moment it was within her reach, Kagome felt a pang of an odd shiver. She gasped out loud as it surprised her.

Inuyasha was at her side instantly. "What is it?" he demanded.

The teenage girl stumbled back a couple steps as her brows furrowed deeply. There was some sort of wave rippling from somewhere. It felt negative and even a little nauseating. Her skin tingled uncomfortably.

"Something's here," she said. "Something…" she trailed off as she tried to locate wave's focal point. She then pointed to a spot on the ceiling. "Up there. It's coming from up there." She didn't see the strange stare Inuyasha was giving her.

Suddenly he took her arm and led her to a staircase. "Follow my steps exactly," he instructed and they carefully went up the hole-ridden stairs. Emerging onto the second floor, they entered a dark hallway. "Where is it now?" he asked her.

Kagome took a few steps forward and her eyes narrowed as she tried to relocate the focal point of the wave. The concentration of the energy was much stronger now so the focus was easier to locate. She pointed to the third door down to their left. "That one," she said.

Inuyasha nodded. "Good."

He was only three steps away from the door when he suddenly stopped. He frowned as he sniffed. Then his eyes narrowed.

"What?" Kagome said.

"There's a human child inside." He turned to her. "When we get inside, you grab the kid and run, okay?" he said quietly. "I'll deal with the demon."

"But, I –"

"Just do it!" he hissed and before she could protest any further he kicked open the door and burst into the room.

When Kagome saw what was inside, all of her feelings of trepidation disappeared. There was a woman sitting in a rocking chair, singing a soft lullaby to the child in her lap. The woman looked shocked and she held her boy protectively when she saw Inuyasha's pistol leveled at her. The child looked no older than seven.

"What are you doing in my home?" the lady cried.

"Don't give me that kind of bullshit. No one's lived here for years," Inuyasha snapped.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Get out of my home! Get out!"

Kagome's eyes stayed on the terrified child in the woman's arms. She could still feel the negative energy that was saturated in the air but the image in front of her seemed to clash with that.

Kagome touched Inuyasha's shoulder. "Inuyasha, maybe –"

He shrugged her off. "Let go of the kid and stand up," he directed the woman.

"What do you want with my child? Who are you?" the woman demanded.

"I'm counting to three. If you don't do what I say, I'll shoot."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped.

"One…"

"No, please! Don't hurt my child!"

"Two…"

"Inuyasha, _please_, what are you thinking? Don't –"

"Three."

A gunshot rang out. Kagome's legs gave out as she covered her ears and screamed. But her eyes widened in shock when she saw what was in front of her. The woman had pushed the child away and her arm turned into a long, thick, and green monstrous-looking arm. It knocked Inuyasha's gun-arm and the bullet missed and hit the ceiling.

Without thinking, Kagome scrambled towards the child, who was reaching for the she-demon. She swept the child into her arms and headed towards the door. The demon transformed her other arm in the same way, reached out and slammed the door closed. The thick limb then jutted to the side and knocked Kagome off her feet. She crashed into the wall and crumpled with the unharmed child beneath her.

"Kagome!"

Inuyasha had started towards the fallen girl when the demon withdrew her arm and lunged toward him. He shot at it but the demon avoided the bullets with liquid ease, twisting and gliding. Her body began to stretch and her legs merged together to form a serpent-like body. Her disproportionate arms hung from her shoulders like a gorilla and long white fangs grew out of her mouth. Her eye color turned into a murky yellow and two curved horns grew out of the top of her head.

Despite this transformation, the child in Kagome's arms continued to squirm around, his arms reaching out towards the demon.

"Mama!" he cried. "Mama!"

The demon knocked the pistol out of Inuyasha's hands and went for him with one clawed hand, her fingers gnarled. Inuyasha met her hand with his own claws and slashed them, leaving four deep gashes. He leapt forward and attacked again but this time, at her face. The demon gave an inhuman shriek as she stumbled back, clutching her face. Taking advantage of these precious seconds, Inuyasha dashed to his fallen pistol. In one swift movement, he picked it up and pointed it at his opponent. The second she moved her hands away from her face, he fired.

Her head snapped back from the impact and it slowly rolled back. Her eyes were wide with shock and her fingers lingered over her wounded forehead.

"Mama!" the boy screamed as she fell dead to the ground; her body returned to its humanoid form. He squirmed away from Kagome and ran to the fallen demon's side.

Inuyasha watched the child with indistinct pity. But something wasn't right. He could feel another presence but he couldn't exactly pinpoint where…He walked over to Kagome and kneeled down to make sure there were no signs of injuries. Afterwards, he relaxed a little; she only had a bump on her head, nothing extreme.

All of a sudden, Inuyasha heard a faint whistling sound. He slowly turned his head to where the window was. Then it shattered and broken glass littered the ground. A small object whipped through it into the room. The weeping boy suddenly jerked and pitched forward. Inuyasha ran to the window but he saw no one. He went back to the kid and saw there was a very small dart protruding from his neck. He squinted his eyes; there was a tiny, but familiar symbol on it.

Inuyasha reached to pick it out and give it a closer look when it suddenly liquefied and sank into the boy's skin. He frowned in bewilderment. Then, the boy started wheezing.

Inuyasha leaned his head to the side. "Hey, kid, are you alright?"

He reached to touch him when the boy abruptly jumped away, snarling viciously. Inuyasha stared in shock. The boy's lip curled to reveal fangs that were growing at an alarming rate. His eyes were dilated and their color seemed to swirl into a vivid scarlet.

"Shit…" Inuyasha breathed, realizing what was happening.

Then he heard Kagome groan softly. She was coming to.

The boy-demon noticed the teenage girl too and sprinted toward her with clawed hands bared. Inuyasha caught up to him easily and knocked him away with the butt of his pistol. The kid skidded across the floor and rolled several times. He pushed himself to his knees, hunched over and his breath grew harsher and raspier. Spikes grew out of his spine, tearing through the fabric of his shirt. He looked up, his face covered with blue markings.

Inuyasha gripped the pistol tightly. The boy was transforming at an abnormally rapid speed.

Kagome groaned again, her head spinning. As she tried to push herself up with her arms, she looked up. Everything was still a little fuzzy but she could sort of make out Inuyasha. He was standing and staring at something. She followed his line of vision and saw a small form. The child, perhaps?

The child climbed to his feet and ran toward Kagome with his hands reaching for her. She smiled softly and reached out to welcome him into her arms. Then all thoughts erased themselves when she saw Inuyasha raised his pistol and aimed it at the running child.

What…what was he doing! N-

"NO!"

The trigger pulled and the pistol fired.

……

_"Eagle to base, do you read?"_

"We read you."

_"Requesting pick up…just for the girl."_

"Ackno – wait, repeat that, over." Only silenced followed. "Eagle, do you copy? Eag –"

"What happened?"

"He hung up, dammit."

……

It was starting to rain. The skies were turning gray and the clouds were gathering. But Kagome didn't care. She felt void of everything.

When they left the building, Inuyasha said only a few words. He instructed her to stay here and someone would come to pick her up. Then, he left. Kagome couldn't say anything. It was like there was a cork in her throat, trapping all her words underneath. She couldn't yell, she couldn't scream, she couldn't cry.

She sat on the building's front steps, staring blankly ahead of her. Wet strands of hair and droplets of rain clung to her face but she didn't move to wipe them away. Only one mental image stayed in her head. One horrible and bloody image.

The rain stopped hitting her face but she could still hear it pound the sidewalk. She felt a shadow loom over her. She looked up and saw someone holding an umbrella over her. Her eyes focused on the umbrella's holder.

Daisuke smiled sympathetically. "Hey."

……

Charlotte closed the oven lid and checked on the contents inside through the little window one last time before straightening up. She wiped her hands on her apron and picked up a plate, and a towel to wipe it clean with. Hearing footsteps, she looked up to see Daisuke leading a drenched Kagome down the hall.

Charlotte sighed. "Poor girl."

Toji, who was clipping his toenails at the table, turned to see what she was looking out. "She looks like she's been to hell and back."

"A very wet hell," Chiaki added, peering over Toji's head.

"Where's Inuyasha?" Charlotte asked.

"Didn't see him," Chiaki said.

She frowned as she picked up a cup. "What?"

"He wasn't there when Daisuke came."

"Where is he then?"

"Well," Toji said with a thoughtful look. "If what happened is what I think happened, then he's probably in some pub right now drinking his brains out."

"What?"

Toji held his hands up. "I won't even bet on it."

"See?" Chiaki pointed out. "That's how sure we are."

"I can't believe this!"

Toji exchanged looks with Chiaki. "That's what he always does when –"

"No, no, no, no," Charlotte said, looking aghast as she set the cup in her hand down with a thump. "This happens every time! He can not keep on doing this!"

"Well, he's been doing this, and he won't budge."

She threw down the towel onto the counter. "Well I won't have it!" She pulled off her apron and started towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Toji asked.

"I'm going to drag his bloody ass back here, that's what I'm going to do!"

Chiaki watched their fiery cook storm out the galley. "You think she'll be able to drag him back?"

Toji shrugged. "It's about time someone tried."

…..

The door of Heavenly Bar burst open and Charlotte stomped in like an angry bull. Her vibrant green eyes scanned the mostly empty room as she closed her umbrella, ignoring the stares some people were giving her. Her eyes stopped at the bar's counter. Target found. He was sitting slightly hunched over with a shot glass in his right hand and a bottle of whiskey near his left. He looked out of it – defeated.

When she saw him, half of her anger extinguished. On the way here, she had prepared a whole big lecture to scream at his face but she lost to will to carry it through. Charlotte sighed and ran her hand through her dark hair. She walked over and climbed onto the stool next to the drinking hanyou. After she placed her umbrella against the stool, she folded her arms on top of the counter and leaned on them.

"I'll have a water, please," she said to the barkeep before turning her head to Inuyasha. "How much longer are you going to keep at this?"

Inuyasha gave her no response. He drank from his shot glass and refilled it.

Charlotte reached to take the glass away. "Stop drinking. It'll –"

He evaded her hand. "Why? It's not like I'll ever get drunk."

"Inuyasha," she said in a more urgent tone. "You can't continue like this. You can't do this every time something like this happens!"

"Do you know what I did, Charlotte? Huh?" Inuyasha turned his head to her. "I shot a _kid_," he said in quiet tone. "I _killed_ him." He turned to face forward again. "He had to be six or seven. But I killed him quicker this time. I didn't hesitate like I did last time."

"Why are you beating yourself up for this? No one blames you – I mean, no one who understands the situation does. You did what you had to do. It's not your fault that these evil demons target children. What happened…was it like the last times?"

"Yes."

She gave him a hard stare. "Inuyasha, did you want to kill him?"

There was a short moment of silence. "No."

"Then what's the problem – or well, I know what the problem is, but what I don't understand is why is it taking you so long to pick up your feet?"

Inuyasha drank another shot and swallowed hard. He refilled it again and said in a nonchalant tone. "Go away, Charlotte."

He hated it when people talked like they understood when they really didn't. Did Charlotte have images of dying children pouring through her head?

Inuyasha covered his face with his hands, recalling what had happened, remembering the expression on her face.

She was horrorstruck. She sat there, staring at the fallen child.

He tried to get her to stand up but she wouldn't budge. He tried to explain to her – to explain to himself – what had happened. It was then when he realized that she was not listening. He turned to look at the child.

All his demon-like features had disappeared, leaving him bleeding heavily, staining his torn shirt. He coughed out blood and breathed his last.

Inuyasha could only watch.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and coaxed Kagome up. He helped her outside, called for pick-up, and left her on the front steps with her deathlike expression.

He heard the squads of the Midoriko Order drive up to that building, their sirens blaring. As he watched them pass, he began to wonder: if he had let the Midoriko Order handle this, would the child have survived?

Inuyasha took another shot.

Charlotte scoffed incredulously and she placed her hands on her head. "I can't believe this. The captain of the ship that I reside in is a wuss."

"Hey," he snapped. "I am not a wuss."

The petite woman jumped on top of the stool so she could tower over him. "Well, your actions are proving otherwise. My God, look at you!" She reached for the nearest thing to her – newspaper. She rolled it up and began to hit the hanyou with it. "Pull yourself together!"

"Ah, ow! Hey!" Inuyasha raised his arms in attempt to defend himself.

"Do you realize what you are doing?" She smacked him one more time. "You have a crew outside on your ship," she lectured, pointing the roll of newspaper outward to nothing in particular, "wondering when you're coming back and waiting for your orders because you're their freaking captain. You got a girl on that ship, who's lost and confused, and needs _some_ kind of guidance from you so she can make it in this world. And I still have a chicken in the oven, and if I don't turn off that oven in ten minutes, that chicken's going to burn and Toji's going to start whining because I said I was going to make wonderful chicken dish instead of those Godforsaken shrimp dumplings he wanted instead! And _you_!" She shoved the roll at his nose as people started to stare at her again. "You're just sitting here, drinking your ass off, which is completely pointless because you can't get drunk anyways! It's all – because of – you!" she said, hitting him again.

She threw the newspaper down on the counter and sat back down. "Barkeep, where's my water?" she demanded.

"Right away, madam," the young man squeaked.

Charlotte rubbed her face and exhaled, most of her steam blowing off. "There are people out there who need you, Inuyasha. Every minute that you stay here, a life might be at risk. If you don't get to them, who will?"

"The Midoriko Order," Inuyasha said bitterly as he rubbed his sore arm.

She shrugged vaguely. "But it's not like you're going to let them beat you to it."

He turned away and scoffed softy.

Charlotte gulped down her glass of water quickly before she turned to him. "So, can we go home now?"

He sighed. He wasn't going to admit it out loud, but she was right. He had a ship and a crew waiting for him. There was also Kagome he had to tend to.

He held the shot glass to his lips. "After I finish this bottle."

"Five more minutes and your ship will be a torching flame."

Inuyasha sipped the last of the whiskey in his shot glass and grabbed his coat. "Let's go."

……

On the rooftop of one of the tall buildings not too far from Heavenly Bar, a cloaked figure stood watching. Two taller cloaked shadows stood a distance behind her, waiting in silence.

The door of the bar opened and a white-haired hanyou stepped out; a smaller female followed suit. He popped out the umbrella and held it so it covered both him and his companion, and they both hurried down the street.

The watcher exhaled softly in the cold and her visible breath lingered in the air before disappearing. Her fingers tingled as they rested on the pommel of one of her twin baton blades.

In her other hand she held a very small canister. Inside was a very special kind of liquid. Highly concentrated in demon energy, a few magic properties were mixed into it. As a result, it could become a powerful catalyst – to special transformations in particular.

She clipped it to her belt next to her leather case of darts and mini-tranquilizer gun.

"After this," she breathed, her eyes trained on the hanyou. "Where are you going to go now?"

Her lips curved upwards and she turned around, her cloak whishing behind her. She signaled to her two followers with her gloved hand. They subtly inclined their head in respect and proceeded behind her.

The three took a simultaneous step and in the next second, they disappeared, leaving only a cloud of dust.

……

Kagome looked up when she heard someone knock at her door.

"Come in," she said, hoping it was not Inuyasha behind that door.

The door opened and Kagome's chest relaxed in relief when she saw it was Daisuke.

"Hey," he said, approaching her bedside. "You seem comfortable." He gestured to the book in her hand.

Kagome shrugged vaguely as she closed the book and dropped it onto her lap. "I can't seem to concentrate on it."

Daisuke nodded, understanding. "Uh, may I?" He pointed briefly to her bed.

"Oh, sure. Have a seat."

He sat at the foot of the bed with his hands folded loosely in his lap. "So how are you doing?"

Kagome quirked a smile and looked to the side. "I've been better."

"Um, if you don't mind, I'm…just going to get straight to the point," Daisuke said. "I want to apologize."

She frowned at him, confused. "For what?"

"For what happened."

"How are you even involved?"

He exhaled heavily. "I should've never told Inuyasha about the demon. I should've gotten someone else to attend to it. I didn't really think about how it would affect you since you would be with him."

"Don't worry about it." Kagome smiled gently. "I don't blame you at the least."

"Right…about that. I think you should offer Inuyasha…some leniency. I'm sure he didn't at all intend to –"

"Don't speak for him." Kagome's voice grew hard as she looked away.

Daisuke bit his lip. He stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I'm sorry. I just – just hear what he has to say, Kagome."

Kagome said nothing. When she heard the door close, she turned her head to look at it. She knew it would be reasonable to listen to Inuyasha's explanations, if he had any. But to be honest, she didn't know if she wanted to hear any kind of explanations at the moment.

Her mind was plagued by that image. The image that she knew would haunt her forever. His large hazel eyes, wide in shock, his small frail body, his small hand reaching for the she-demon, and the blood streaming from his head.

Kagome snapped her eyes shut with a sharp gasp. Her lip trembling, she drew her legs to her chest and hugged them tightly.

……..

Inuyasha let out a heavy breath after he climbed on board the _Fortis Libertas_. The rain had stopped but the deck was empty; the crew was still below.

"So are you going to talk to her now?" Charlotte asked, climbing on after him.

He blew his hair out of his face. "Yeah, I guess. Gotta find her though."

"You won't have to look too hard," she said, looking behind him.

Inuyasha turned around to see the teenage girl standing on the quarterdeck, her back facing him. He could tell that her arms were folded and she was probably just staring blankly at nothing. He swallowed, feeling slightly apprehensive.

"I'll keep everyone below deck," Charlotte said behind him.

"Tell Toji that we're moving out," Inuyasha called after her. When she disappeared below, he climbed up the stairs to the quarterdeck. Kagome showed no response as to whether she knew he was there or not.

"Hey," he called out.

She still did not respond.

Inuyasha looked around uneasily. He wanted nothing more than to run back to the pub and chug down that bottle of whiskey. He had opened his mouth to speak when she spoke.

"Before you say anything," she said, "I want to ask you one question."

He approached her. "Yeah?"

"How many children have you killed?"

She surprised him. "What?"

Kagome flicked her head swiftly to get her hair out of her eyes. "How many children have you shot and killed? How many kids have you torn away from their parents? How many futures have you stolen?"

Inuyasha scoffed, his uneasiness replaced with disbelief. "Are you trying to guilt me into this? Do you think that I felt nothing when I shot that kid? I didn't want to do it, Kagome. I did what I had to do."

She glared at him. "He was like seven years-old, for God's sake!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"No, Inuyasha. You _always_ have a choice."

He threw his hands into the air. "Oh, wait, you're right," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I did have another choice but that involved you getting killed. I just happened to choose the lesser of two evils."

Kagome stared at him. "What?"

Inuyasha gave her a hard look. "I don't know how but the demon knew we were coming, Kagome. She injected a part of herself into the kid and after we destroyed her body, she hoped that we would let the kid go. She would live through him, infecting his system, turning him into a demon like herself. She was a parasite. I mean, it was weird that the kid was transforming rather quickly…."

Then there was that dart…there were a many strange factors that were in play there, actually…

Kagome's eyes grew wide with realization. "I did feel something…it was small but…"

"It was the kid," he said in a firm tone. He felt he could relax a little; she finally understood now. "But I was going to leave him for whatever Order that came to deal with, but then he started to –"

The look in her eyes stopped him. They were even angrier and her jaw was trembling.

"I can't believe…" she gasped. "You…you _knew_." She gritted her teeth. "Why did you bring me here? Why did you bring me here if you _knew_ something like this would happen?"

"No, I didn't! I didn't think – "

"No," she interrupted him. "You had to know. You had to! If this was the kind of world you lived in and if you were an exorcist, of all things, you had to have known that something like this was bound to happen!"

Inuyasha stared at her. He had to keep his cool.

"You're being unreasonable. You're just upset and –"

"Take me home," she said vehemently.

"I can't."

"Why not? I don't want to help you in your little treasure hunt. I just want to go home."

"No, I literally can't." He sighed heavily at her troubled expression. "In that cave, when I first brought you here, that's where I found the device to bring you here. After I used it, it somehow broke. I don't know how, I guess it wasn't meant to be used a second time. And we don't know how to fix it." Kagome gazed at him with disbelief, slowly shaking her head.

"I'm sorry," he added.

"No, you're not sorry. If you were sorry, you would've never brought me here in the first place! You're horrible! Why, Inuyasha?" she asked as she closed the distance between them, her body trembling. "What did I ever do to deserve this? Tell me that."

He shook his head, unable to answer. "I…"

"How could you do this to me!" She began to pound her small fists against his chest. "Why? Why did you take me away? How could you trick me like this! You-you pig-headed, manipulative bastard!"

Eventually, her fists gave out and Inuyasha instinctively caught her wrists to keep her from falling to the ground. Then, she surprised him again when she fell against him, her face pressed against his chest. He released her wrists and she clutched the fabric of his shirt.

"I just want to go home," she whispered. "I want to see my mom again. I want to see Souta and Grandpa. My friends and Tetsuya. I don't want to be here anymore." She hit his chest. "You suck," she added feebly.

Inuyasha stared at the dark head that was attached to his chest. He was totally clueless as to what to do or say. The things she was accusing him of: tricking her into leaving her home…carelessly exposing her to things that he naively thought he could shield anyone from if he tried – he'd be lying if he denied those things. But what was he supposed to do now? Was he supposed to hug her?

Suddenly she pulled away, looking away in slight embarrassment. He, himself, felt a little disoriented.

"Sorry…I didn't…"

Without thinking, he suddenly said. "I'll get you home."

Kagome looked at him, bewildered. "What? But, you said –"

His mouth kept talking. "I know. I'll find a way to get you home. I promise."

"You promise?" She looked surprised.

He extended his pinky finger. "Pinky promise," he said jokingly.

She smiled slightly but she still looked uncertain when she hooked her pinky around his. She then pulled her hand away and quickly tucked her hair behind her ear. Her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes began to water.

"Whoa, hey," Inuyasha said, slightly panic-stricken. "I said I'd get you home. That's a good thing right? Why are you crying?"

"Because you're being nice all of a sudden. It's weird!"

He started to feel really uneasy. "You know, crying women make me really uncomfortable."

Kagome sniffed. "Then you're not going to like what's coming." She tried to wipe her tears and looked at him. "Why? Why are you doing this? I mean, I just blew up at you back there."

To be honest, even he didn't know. Even from the start, he wasn't sure why he had decided to help her. He wasn't sure if it was her familiar features or her naïve nature. There was just something about her that made him want to help her.

Instead, he gave her a mild smile and said, "Do you really need a reason to help people?"

She smiled back and sniffed. "If it concerns you, yeah."

"Ha, ha. Okay…stop crying…please?" Inuyasha looked around desperately for help even though there was no one else on deck. He reached out and patted her head awkwardly. "Uh, there, there."

He sighed heavily. Another promise, huh? He gazed that the girl as she tried to dry her eyes. How was she getting him to do these things? He sighed and scratched his head. What was he getting himself into?

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Sigh. Yes, angst, angst, and more angst. Blargh.**FAQs**

**Is Kikyou in this story? Or has she passed away?**

She'll appear every once in a while…

**Is Daisuke sick?**

(blinks) Huh? …Is this coming from his ridiculous sleeping habits…?

**I have this horrible hunch that Daisuke might not live to see the end of the story.**

Oh no! (Runs to cover Daisuke's ears)

**So, is Sango and Shippo in this upcoming chapter or even Naraku?**

Patience, grasshopper.


	7. Clarity

AN: Sorry for taking so long to update. Here's the 7th chapter. Enjoy yourselves.

* * *

**The Broken Horn**

**Chapter Seven**

**Clarity**

Kagome slid the door open and poked her head into the Infirmary.

"Hello?"

The lights were on but there was no one in the room. Kagome limped inside as she grimaced at the nasty scratch on her leg. Though, how she got it was her fault.

Things had gone really strange between Inuyasha and her. Every time they ended up in the same room, there would be a long awkward silence between them. It drove her insane, so for the rest of the morning, she stayed in her room – with nothing to do. She didn't want to read her book and she was too awake to take a nap. So to pass some time… she tried to do a handstand – and failed miserably. She didn't like the idea of falling on the wooden floor so she tried doing it on the bed, which resulted in her falling off the bed and onto the hard wooden floor. It was probably the stupidest thing she had ever done in her life. So now she had an ugly scratch on her leg that she needed to take care of.

Kagome looked around her. She had hoped the doctor would be in here since he was the only person of the crew she had not yet met. She pouted slightly. What a shame…

The room was not extremely big, but it was big enough to fit two hospital beds, a fridge, and many cabinets. There was also a wooden desk with many folders and documents piled on it. They looked like they had been pushed to one side for a mortar and pestle and some medical equipment. Kagome opened one of the top cabinet doors to see that the shelves were filled with many containers and jars containing herbs, powders, liquids, and tablets. She reached for one when a sharp voice cut through the air.

"What are you doing?"

Kagome snatched back her hand and closed the cabinet door. She turned to see a tall blonde man standing at the doorway. His hazel eyes scrutinized her behind square-rimmed glasses. Kagome thought his eyes looked vaguely familiar.

"S-sorry! I-I didn't mean to intrude," she stammered. "I was just…um."

He frowned at her as he walked in. "Did you break anything?"

"…No."

"Did you open anything?"

"No."

"'Kay then," he said, sliding the door closed and not sparing her a second glance. He sat at his desk and began to look through his pile of papers, ignoring her presence.

Kagome bit the bottom of her lip, feeling awkward. She sat on one of the beds facing him.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi," she piped.

He glanced at her with an odd look. After a moment he said, "Hokuto Izumi."

"So…I'm assuming that you're the doctor here on this ship."

"I'm not a doctor," he said in a bored tone. "I don't cut people up. I'm a healer."

So then there was a difference.

"So do I call you Healer Izumi…or Doctor Izumi?"

"Just Izumi's fine."

"Ah," Kagome nodded as she searched her mind for something to talk about. "Um, so have you been here long?"

Izumi stopped what he was doing and gave her a hard look. "What do you want?"

Surprised at the sudden question, Kagome blinked. "Uh…"

"I'm busy," he said coldly. "Unless it's important, leave."

Kagome frowned slightly, perturbed by the harshness of his tone.

"Fine," she said stubbornly. "Well, guess what? I do have something for you to tend to."

He raised his eyebrow at her.

"I got a nasty scratch on my leg." She lifted her left up for him to see. "Ooh, it's bleeding a little…"

Izumi sighed irritably and pushed himself out of his chair. He stood in front of her and hovered one of his hands over her small wound. His hand emitted a faint green glow and Kagome watched with amazement as the blood disappeared and her skin mended itself. In seconds, her leg looked perfectly fine.

Kagome's eyes grew wide. "Wow! That was so cool! How'd you do that?"

Instead of answering her question, Izumi returned to his desk.

"Can all healers do that?" she asked.

Izumi shrugged. "Most can, to a certain extent."

Kagome poked her leg. "Remarkable..."

"What are you doing here?" the healer asked with a touch of annoyance in his voice. "Why don't you hang out with the other boys?"

"I can't," she said, looking away. "Inuyasha might be with them."

He frowned at her. "So?"

"Well, recently, it's been really awk –"

Izumi held out a hand. "Stop right there. I don't want to know."

Kagome blinked. "Huh?"

"Look around you. Where are you right now?"

"…I'm in the Infirmary," she said hesitantly, uncertain to where this was leading.

Izumi snapped his fingers and smiled. "Exactly!" Just as quickly as it appeared, his smile was wiped off his face. "This is not a teen consolation room. Go blab your problems to someone else!"

She stared at him, feeling even more confused at his sudden outburst. Did she say something wrong?

"Ya stupid teens," Izumi began to mutter. "…Always ranting off your problems on me…I'm your healer…not your damn counselor…"

Kagome just opened her mouth when she heard many footsteps clamoring outside. Suddenly, the door slid open violently. She gasped softly at the sight before her.

With his arm draped over Inuyasha's shoulders, Miroku stood unsteadily on his feet. His face was pale as a ghost and he was shaking uncontrollably as his breathing was sharp and harsh. The others were behind him, concern written across their faces.

Izumi sprung to his feet and helped Inuyasha guide Miroku to the nearest bed. Kagome quickly moved out of the way as they laid him onto the bed.

"What happened?" Izumi demanded.

"We were attacked again," Inuyasha answered grimly.

Kagome stared with shock. Calm, smart Miroku; Miroku's warm, charismatic smile. Miroku whose hand often wandered to inappropriate places. All of that was reduced to the shaken state he was in now.

His eyes were wide as saucers and his face was twisted in a way that seemed like he was watching something horrible. His shaking hands clawed at the bed covers and the strands of his hair stuck to his sweaty countenance.

"Miroku, look at me," Izumi ordered. He placed his hands on the sides of Miroku's face and forced it towards him. Miroku stared at him, his jaw quivering.

Izumi repositioned his hands over Miroku's forehead and eyes. He closed his eyes and his lips moved as if he muttering something but no sound came out. Seconds later, Miroku's shaking stopped and he let out a long sigh. His hands and shoulders relaxed. When Izumi removed his hands, Kagome saw that some color had returned to his cheeks and his eyes were closed in a peaceful slumber.

Izumi stood up and turned around to face the other boys. "You're crowding this room. Leave, all of you."

Sparing their fellow shipmate one more look, they all left except for Daisuke who went to sit by the bedside. Kagome, unsure if he was referring to her too, stayed. She glanced at Inuyasha who was clearly avoiding her gaze.

Izumi went to one of the cabinets and began to rummage through it. After a long silence, he said, "Are you going to give me any details?"

"We were attacked by that girl again."

"So? You didn't have any problems with her before."

Inuyasha paused. "Izumi," he said in a low tone. "She knew how to use Mens Os."

Izumi stiffened.

"Was she…?" Daisuke started.

"No, she had to look at him in the eyes."

Kagome frowned with confusion. 'Mens Os'? What in the world was that? She looked at Daisuke questioningly but he didn't meet her gaze. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his fingers interlaced in front of his face; he stared solemnly at his sleeping comrade.

Kagome turned her head to Inuyasha and was surprised to see that he was looking at her. He quickly averted his eyes and cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable.

"Uh…I'm going to go tell Toji our next stop."

Daisuke looked up. "Where?"

"Marra Town. We need to restock on some supplies," Inuyasha answered. He nodded at Izumi and left the room.

Kagome sighed heavily. She took a seat at Miroku's bedside across from Daisuke.

After a moment of silence, she spoke up. "Will he be all right?"

"He will," Izumi answered. "Scoot over a bit." He opened Miroku's mouth and poured in a small spoonful of a clear liquid.

"What happened exactly?"

"Recently, we've been tailed by a female assailant, " Daisuke explained patiently. "We think her target is Inuyasha but we're not sure why. Miroku's been with him during every encounter and has managed to thwart most of the attacks. I guess this time, she got annoyed and decided that this time she was going to get rid of Miroku."

"What did she do?"

"After today's events, we can assume that she's a practitioner of Mens Os."

Kagome gave him a blank stare.

"Oh, right – um, it's sort of like the art of reading people's emotions and memories. Those who master it are believed to be able to read people's minds – their thoughts, to be exact."

"So like, walking and talking lie detectors…Do you know if she mastered it?"

Daisuke shook his head. "She had to look at Miroku in the eyes, which means she's only got the basics down. Emotions and bits of memories are probably the only things she can read."

Memories and emotions…

"I've studied alchemy for as long as I can remember. When I was thirteen, I was foolish enough to think that I was ready to perform this very advanced transmutation. It rebounded."

Did it have anything to do with that?

"How did that affect Miroku?"

"As you can see, not very well."

Kagome jumped at the sound of Miroku's voice. With his eyes half opened, Miroku slowly looked around and took a deep breath through his nose.

"How are you doing?" Daisuke asked him.

He grinned drowsily. "I've been through worse." He turned his head to look at Kagome. "Aw, look at you. Were you worried? I'm touched, really."

"Don't be stupid." Kagome snorted but a smile pulled at her lips.

She had so many questions piling on her tongue but she didn't know if it was something she was allowed to know. She wanted to ask him, how did this happen? What did that attacker remind him of?

Seeing the curiosity in her face, Miroku said, "I guessing you wanna know, huh?" He chuckled. "You shouldn't hold back, Kagome. No one's going to kill you for asking questions."

Daisuke frowned with a concerned look. "You don't have to talk about it now. We can hold it off for later. You should rest. Let's go, Kagome."

Kagome hid her disappointment. Her curiosity was at its brim…

"Nah," Miroku told him. "I'm fine." He sat up and nestled against the pillows behind him.

For a moment, he gazed at his right hand that lay limply in his lap. "My mother died when I was young. She was a kind, beautiful woman," he said with a soft smile. "My father left us when I was still very small so my mother raised me on her own. When I was eleven, I found out that she was suffering from a terminal disease. A couple of weeks later, she died."

Miroku swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. "I didn't know what to do. No one could take me in and I didn't have anywhere to go. I don't know what I was thinking then or what was going through my head when I decided that…I was going to bring her back to life using alchemy.

"I found a teacher who could build my foundation in alchemy and after about two years, I felt I was ready and left. For another four months, I studied human transmutation and prepared, and then I did it. Well, I told you what happened. The transmutation rebounded and I lost two of my limbs."

Miroku swallowed again as he frowned; he started to look like he was struggling. "I-I did create something though…I-it – "

"That's enough."

Daisuke spoke as he stood up from his seat. He wasn't looking at Miroku but at his lap. Kagome followed his eyes and saw that Miroku was clutching his blanket so tightly that the knuckles of his left hand were white.

"We'll let you have some rest," Daisuke said firmly. He beckoned Kagome with a look and headed out the door.

"Get better," she told Miroku. She nodded to Izumi as she passed him and followed Daisuke out the door.

There was a long silence between the two as both of them walked down the hallway, their footsteps echoed off the wooden planks of the floor.

"How do you do it?" Kagome suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Daisuke stopped and turned to face her. "Pardon?"

Kagome's eyes were downcast. "How do you live in a place like this? Where demons wreak havoc and murder children? Where people are forced to relive their worst memories by others?" She looked up and met his gaze. "What else is there? Do the Undead roam the streets at night? Do these 'Hollows' terrorize cities everyday? How do you live in a place like this and stay sane?"

Nothing but a stoic expression showed on Daisuke's face.

Kagome smiled weakly. "This place isn't as cracked up as he said it was, huh?"

_"Arriving at Marra Town in five."_

Surprised, Kagome looked up to see a small squared speaker high up on the wall where it met the ceiling. She looked down when she felt a warm hand wrap around her wrist and tugged it. The usual soft smile graced Daisuke's lips again when he spoke.

"Come with me."

…..

The moment _Fortis Libertas_ reached the dock, Daisuke was leading Kagome off the ship with Nina at their heels. They were headed off the platform when Chiaki spotted them and shouted, "Where are you guys going?"

Daisuke turned his head and grinned. "Sight-seeing!"

Kagome stared at the _Libertas_, or what she thought was the _Libertas_. She blinked several times, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. The ship was no longer blue and gold but green and silver. Where _Fortis Libertas_ should have been, _Balding Dog_ was in its stead.

"Come on," Daisuke said, pulling her towards the exit of the small quiet harbor.

"Er, hey, Daisuke," Kagome said, slightly stumbling over her feet. "The _Libertas_ looks kind of…different – "

"Oh, yeah. We change her appearance every now and then."

"Why?"

"You've heard the stories about us, right?" Daisuke said while waving at a stocky fisherman who was holding a huge fish in his arms. "We're pretty popular in some places and in other places, just as unpopular. It'd be pretty difficult to move around inconspicuously when everyone knows that the _Fortis Libertas_ crew is in town."

"You don't seem bothered that a lot of people are recognizing you now," Kagome said, noticing that almost every person they passed waved or said hello.

"Hey! Daisuke!"

Kagome turned to see a large man with a bushy red beard leaning forward on the rim of his sloop. Nina barked excitedly.

"S'bout time you came around 'ere, lad! You too, Nina-girl."

Daisuke grinned widely. "Sorry, I've been busy."

"I can see that," the bearded man said, his eyes on Kagome. He gave a toothy smile. "Thassa nice lass you got there, boy."

Several men stopped what they were doing to see who was the girl next to Daisuke,

Daisuke chuckled. "Hands off, Charlie."

There was laughter and cat-whistles. The one called Charlie gave a booming laugh.

"Alright, alright," he said, holding up his hands defensively. "If she's with you," (Kagome raised an eyebrow.) "I won't let lay a finger on her."

Daisuke waved good-bye before turning to Kagome and giving her a rueful smile.

She just rolled her eyes and shrugged. "You were going to say?"

"Ah, right – well, it's the cities where we really take extra precautions, but this town is a bit different from them all. Down to earth, welcoming, we actually rely on Marra Town a lot. But I love this town," he said. "No screaming fangirls or bloodthirsty bounty hunters."

Kagome raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Bounty hunters?"

"Yeah, I don't think I should be proud of it but we got a pretty big price on our heads," he said, grinning.

"For what?" she asked, almost in disbelief.

Daisuke just smiled.

Kagome gave him a suspicious look but smiled. "Well, the whole fangirls thing is a pretty big surprise on its own."

"Ouch."

She grinned mischievously. "So, _Balding Dog_, huh?"

Daisuke laughed. "Yeah, I'm guessing it was Chiaki's turn to give a name. We just changed it this morning so Inuyasha hasn't seen it yet. I can't wait until that happens."

Despite its size, Marra Town was very busy during the late afternoon. Exiting the harbor, they were immediately in the town's marketplace. Spices filled the busy air. Salespeople were shouting out prices and deals. They set their booths all around next to stores that sold all sorts of things, from grocery foods to books, from jewelry to glassware. There were two inns, an herbal store, and an antiquity store. Men sat in front of drinking parlors, laughing and talking of current events. Women huddled in groups, gossiping. Kids ran around, chasing one another, screaming in delight. The majority of the buildings had two stories. The first floor was usually the store and the second residential. Clothing lines hung from the windows and housewives would stick their heads out, shouting greetings to the people below.

Not too far away was the town square. On the edge, there were booths selling mostly trinkets and toys. In the middle was a simple fountain where the townspeople sat on its rim, reading books or conversing with one another. Children were scattered around on the ground, playing with their tops and puppets. Dogs laid sleepily next to them, occasionally opening one eye to check on the little ones. Cats rested on the windowsills, their tails swinging.

Daisuke and Kagome stood at the end of the large alley that separated the market and the town square. Nina ran towards a group of children who were playing with their tops. She jumped into their circle, interrupting their game. The children shrieked in delight. Some tried to retrieve their tops as others reached out with their hands trying to pet the bouncing canine.

Kagome smiled, looking from the market to the square. "It's quite a lively place."

"Yes," Daisuke said. "But do you notice something else?"

Kagome did notice. She didn't immediately, but now she saw it in plain sight. In this town, humans and demons mingled. The jewelry merchant in the market was obviously a demon. His horns were like antlers with necklaces and bracelets hanging off of them. A crow half her size was perched on a short wooden railing talking and sharing liquor with a human man. She-demons gossiped with the female humans and a one-horned demon that looked a lot like a humanoid cat was the fabric seller shoving her products into passerby's faces. There were also demon younglings among the circle of children, their horns merely stubby bumps on their heads.

Daisuke lead her to near the back of the town where most of the townspeople resided. The atmosphere quieted down and the air freshened. Older men sat in front of the homes playing chess. Housewives talked to each other while keeping an eye on their kids who were playing on the small streets. Demons and humans were living with one another in harmony.

"Most of the villages, towns and cities of this world are like Marra Town. Demons and humans live together in peace. Wild demon or Hollow attacks are rare due to the efforts of people like us," Daisuke said quietly. "There are some places that have never been attacked. There are some places where Hollows and the Undead are only stories meant to frighten children. They are kept ignorant of these evils by exorcists, demon exterminators, and clerical orders so that they may live their lives in peace."

Daisuke and Kagome strolled down the small street as others stopped to smile in greeting the boy-Shinigami.

"Unfortunately," he continued, "you reside with a band of exorcists, therefore, most of the places that you go to will be invested with evil." He gave her an apologetic look. "But this is how we stay sane. It's towns like this one."

Kagome smiled, "Well, if what you're saying is true, then I guess this place isn't that bad."

"No," Daisuke smiled back. "It isn't. Come on, there's more I want to tell you."

She raised her eyebrows. "More?"

Daisuke nodded and he led her past the simple bungalows until they reached an open field filled with tombstones. Kagome stared. It was a cemetery.

"You know, this town used to be heavily infested with Hollows and Undead," Daisuke said. "It was amazing that there were still inhabitants here. Instead of fleeing, they stayed and fought. Most of these graves belong to those fighters." He sat on a wooden bench nearby and motioned to her to do the same. "Marra Town was actually the first town we cleansed as a group, as the crew of _Fortis Libertas_," he said as Kagome took a seat. "Which is the reason why this town is special to us. This area has incredible natural resources and the people are amazing but this place is practically unknown to the main market; mostly scoundrels come here, like yours truly," he gave a smart smile before continuing. "This island is in the middle of nowhere, difficult to plot. Even if you've been here before, it's not easy to find your way back here again. We've been going here for the last two years so we have no trouble.

"Inuyasha struck a deal with the townspeople here. We'd protect them from pirates and they'd provide us with supplies, keep our visits here a secret, and hide us without question when needed."

"You guys drive a hard bargain," Kagome commented.

"Ah, well, they kinda owe us so no one's complaining," he said with a grin. He looked ahead and cleared his throat. "Uh, speaking of which, Inuyasha's been acting strangely." He glanced at her and noted her discomfort. "Do you know why?"

"No," Kagome said quickly. "Why would I know?"

Daisuke shrugged, his skin giving off a soft warm glow as the sun set.

After a quiet moment, he said, "He'll get you home. He's not the sort that breaks promises."

Kagome looked up, surprised. "How did you…?"

Daisuke smiled sheepishly. "You two weren't very quiet."

"Yeah, I bet you were straining to listen, too," she muttered.

"Kagome." His tone grew serious. "A man can't achieve his goals if there isn't someone there to believe in him."

"There aren't a lot of people your age who talk like you."

"I'm twenty."

"That doesn't make you old."

Daisuke chuckled softly. "Well, the things I say...other people may not say it out loud, but they think it."

There was another silence before Kagome spoke again.

"What make you think I don't believe him?"

When Daisuke did not answer her, Kagome stood up suddenly. "It's dark," she said, "we should head back."

Daisuke grinned charmingly as he leaned back on his arms. "What? You don't like the dark?"

Kagome lifted an eyebrow inquiringly. "Do you?"

Daisuke looked up at the night sky as his smile softened. "Yes."

Kagome looked up. "Why?"

"Because when it gets dark enough, you can see the stars."

As if on cue, something bright in the sky shone. More followed it and soon, the whole dark sky was glittering with diamonds.

As Daisuke's words registered, realization dawned upon her and she said softly. "I have to get back."

"Alright," Daisuke said as he stood up and brushed the back of his pants. "We'll have to find Nina –"

Kagome was already running.

…..

"Is this supposed to be funny?"

Toji and Laurence were both carrying a large crate about to board the _Libertas_ when they both turned to look at Inuyasha.

"What?" they asked.

Inuyasha gestured at the _Libertas's_ most recent alias. Laurence blinked at the words _Balding Dog_ and Toji sported an innocent expression on his face, but Inuyasha knew better. After living with this crew for about two years, he could pretty much guess who the culprit was.

"Where's Chiaki?" he asked.

"Uh…" Toji and Laurence both looked away and Inuyasha knew that their minds were furiously conjuring up a decent story to cover for their fellow mate.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you half-wits helped the dolt," he scoffed. "Don't you have anything else better to do?"

"Hey!" Laurence said, indignant. He planted his fists on his hips "That's no wa – OUCH!" When Laurence released his edge of the crate, Toji was unable to accommodate the sudden imbalance quickly enough and fell forward. As a result, the crate landed on Laurence's toes.

"Oh, that's not good," Toji said as he watched Laurence clutch his toes, swearing loudly.

Inuyasha smirked and he was about to tell them off when he heard someone running towards them.

"Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha turned. Seeing Chiaki, his eyes immediately narrowed. "_You_ – "

"Pirates."

His anger vanished and he blinked. "What?"

Chiaki's expression was grim. "Pirates. Just twenty miles east of here. One of the boys on the lookout post spotted them."

Laurence abruptly shut up and Toji slowly stood up, both of their expressions matching Chiaki's.

Inuyasha shrugged, not understanding why he was seeing this as a dilemma. He saw Kagome a short distance behind Chiaki looking a little breathless herself. He eyed her curiously but turned back to Chiaki. "Alright. Well, we'll finish loading and then we'll sail out and meet them."

Inuyasha moved toward the ship. He did not really want to be anywhere near Kagome…but Chiaki caught his arm.

"No, Inuyasha," he said. "You don't understand. They're heading this way."

It didn't take too long for Chiaki's word to sink in. Inuyasha began snapping orders.

"Leave all the things we still need to load; we'll come back for them. Now go get everyone and move it," he said. "We're leaving in five."

Chiaki and Laurence took off into the town and Toji followed Inuyasha onto the _Libertas_. In the next two minutes, the rest of the crew climbed on board and in the next couple of minutes, they were moving out of the small harbor and into the open sea.

Kagome stood there, feeling slightly at loss despite the constant movement around her. Everyone was running around, carrying things out, roping things up, and just _doing something_. Needless to say, she was feeling a bit useless at the moment. She wanted to help but she couldn't think of any way of how she could, and there was that tiny fear that she'd be more of a hindrance than anything. Kagome gave a small sigh and found a seat on a wooden crate a little out of the way. While she watched everyone work around her, she felt something wet touch her hand. Kagome looked down.

Wagging her tail, the furry canine prodded Kagome's hand again with her nose causing Kagome to smile.

"What?" she asked.

It was then when someone noticed her. Miroku, who was carrying what looked awfully like a bazooka under his arm, stopped near her with a rather surprised look on his slightly pale face.

"Kagome," he said. "I don't think you should be up here. It won't be very safe here in a couple of minutes."

"I can handle it," Kagome said stubbornly. She was curious about what the pirates would be like so she didn't want to leave.

Miroku smiled and took hold of her arm. "I insist."

"We're approaching!" someone shouted.

Inuyasha emerged from the secondary hatch with Toji following close behind; both were fully armed.

"Positions on the starboard side!" Inuyasha bellowed.

Miroku gave Kagome a do-what-I-say look before joining the others.

"He doesn't really think I'll listen to him, does he?" Kagome muttered under her breath when a cold chill ran down her spine.

"Well, you really should go below deck but it's alright," the dog said, "I'll protect you."

"Right –" Kagome stopped abruptly, forgot about the chill, and slowly turned to look at Nina. "Did you just…?"

To make things even stranger, Nina grinned at her, making herself look even more intimidating. Kagome looked around her to see if anyone else had noticed that the dog was talking to her but no one seemed to be affected.

"They know," Nina said, knowing what was running through Kagome's mind. "Everyone on this ship does."

"No one said anything about a talking dog."

The dog shrugged. "It wasn't that important."

Kagome stared. "Really now?"

"FIRE!"

Kagome whipped around at the sound of gunfire and explosions. Her eyes widened at the sight of the huge ship that seemed to loom ominously over her. Practically twice the size of the _Libertas_, the ship nearly engulfed the _Libertas_ with its shadow. Yet despite their advantage of having higher ground, the crew of this large ship seemed to be suffering severely from the attacks of the _Libertas _crew. Kagome noticed how their movements were clumsy and awkward and their shots missed their targets completely.

Kagome stayed low to the floor with Nina close to her side as bullets and whatnot whizzed overhead. To her amazement, the bullets did not splinter the wood but bounced off them. Either the bullets were made of dough and the pirates were using slingshots, or the _Libertas_ was a really abnormal ship.

She turned back to look at the opposing side and as she watched them get gunned down by bullets that emitted a golden light in the form of a cross when they hit home, she slowly realized why their movements looked so familiar. Gunon Town. They were Undead. Kagome scooted closer until she was behind Ling. Ling must have felt her presence because he turned to look at her with mild surprise.

"Shouldn't you be below deck?" Before Kagome could say anything, Ling shrugged it off and told her, "Ah well, just stay low and close to Nina."

Suddenly, there was a heavy thump. Kagome peered over Ling's shoulder and a sickeningly crunch of wood as some of the Undead were knocked over by an unknown force. When Kagome squinted, she could see a large blurry form that was almost 15 feet tall. As it moved forward, there was more breaking of wood.

Ling slipped on round sunglasses with green shades and Kagome saw that everyone with the exception of Inuyasha, Miroku, Daisuke, and Chiaki did the same.

"What's –" Kagome began but was cut off by deep monstrous scream. The chill came back and she started to feel a bit nauseous.

"Here." Nina dropped a pair of green shades in her lap.

Kagome slipped them on and felt her throat tighten at the sight before her. The blurry form was replaced by what she could only call a monster. Wicked tusks protruded out of its mouth and its massive body was covered with shaggy dark fur. Its front limbs were arms and hands but its back ones were ended with hooves. But what was most disturbing was that it was wearing a white mask with wicked carvings and dark markings, that and there was a medium-sized hole on its chest that ran all the way through to its back. It screamed again when Miroku fired at it with his bazooka-like weapon.

"It's a Hollow!" Inuyasha shouted over the creature's roars. "Load your spiritiron cartridges!"

In the next second there was rapid gunfire and the Hollow was struggling to get up under a rain of explosions. To deliver the final blow, Daisuke pulled out his fan and swung it in an arc in front of him, releasing a silvery-blue crescent shaped light. It collided into the Hollow's head and its mask shattered along with its body. Then it vanished into the air.

The Undead stared at where the Hollow was standing before, frozen. Now that their great creature was destroyed they seemed at a loss about what to do.

Resting this large gun on his shoulder, Inuyasha grinned. "Gentlemen, get ready to board."

……

Five minutes later, everybody had boarded the large pirate ship except for Laurence, Ling, and Shun who stayed to watch over the _Libertas_. They rounded up all the Undead on deck and as Daisuke and Inuyasha had their guns trained on them, the others searched the ship for loot; Kagome sat grudgingly on a barrel next to Inuyasha with Nina. Otherwise, she risked being sent back to the _Libertas_. Toji stayed above deck and Miroku and Chiaki went below.

Miroku kicked a lid off a large wooden box and took a sniff of its contents. His face twisted into a grimace. "Grave dirt."

"And lots of it," Chiaki said kicking open another box, revealing that it shared the same substance.

Miroku looked up and saw that the room they were in was filled with many of these boxes. They found a chest of jewels and gold or two but most of the other chests and trunks were full of Dark objects, which they were careful not to touch with their bare skin. But there was something else that Miroku noticed. All of these trunks and boxes had the same symbol engraved into them: a skull with a pentacle on its forehead, inscribed in a circle.

Miroku looked up at Chiaki who too noticed it.

"Hey, Miroku," Chiaki called. "Come over here."

Chiaki pushed aside a trunk as Miroku approached him.

He pointed. "Look."

On the floor where the trunk was covering it was a hatch locked with a heavy iron bolt. Strangely, on the hatch was the same symbol that was engraved on all the other boxes.

Chiaki tapped the symbol with the tip of his gun. "This symbol looks awfully familiar."

Miroku agreed but he couldn't exactly place it…

Suddenly, without any warning, the symbol began to glow blood red.

.…..

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"

The hanyou turned around irritably. "What?" he snapped.

Unperturbed, Toji piped. "Their computer system is a Touch-Screen type!"

"What?"

"Touch-Screen! It's basically this huge clear plastic plate that's controlled by a three-finger glove with tips that are magnetic sensi-"

"Yeah, yeah, what's your point?"

Toji looked at him with huge puppy eyes. "Can I take it?"

Inuyasha blinked.

"I mean, it'd be _so_ much easier to operate," Toji said quickly. "Not only will it be a huge technological advancement for us, it'll save us a lot of room. And…it looks really, really, really cool," he added.

Inuyasha waved his hand nonchalantly. "Fine, whatever."

Toji let out a loud whoop and would have given Inuyasha a huge hug if it hadn't been for his threatening glare.

"Can I go look at it?" Kagome asked Inuyasha.

"No."

She gave him an agitated glare but he ignored it.

"Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha turned to see Miroku and Chiaki coming from the hatch, running

"What?" he said slightly frowning at the alarmed expressions on both of their faces.

In a dark tone, Miroku said, "There's a necromancer onboard."

* * *

**FAQs**

**The Mr. Mop and Mrs. Bucket thing--wasn't that in 'Treasure Planet'?**

Mm-hm.

**u could make sango a coordinator, u know in like gundam series.**

I've never watched Gundam before. I don't think 15 minutes count. Commercials included.

**Why did Inuyasha really bring Kagome to his world?**

He got lonely and Miroku won't play Hot Wheels with him anymore.

…All joking aside, that is a spoiler question I cannot answer. (grins)

**its getting good but dont kill daisuke off hes the nice one.**

Daisuke: I _am_ nice. (looks at renko)…You're not gonna kill me off, right?

renko: …I don't know. You do kinda owe me money. For a while now, actually.

**BTW, is the date ruined? Or did Inuyasha salvage it at the last instant?**

Mm…I'll leave that to your own interpretation.

**"Toji, who was clipping his toenails at the table, turned to see what she was looking at." Eww! At the table!**

Don't worry, he cleaned up after himself. Of course, after Charlotte bashed him over the head and gave him some foot odor cream.

**Were Kagome's evil/dead senses kind of stolen/inspired by from the old kingdom trilogy?**

No. I honestly wasn't thinking about that trilogy when I wrote that.

Alrighty. 'Til next time.


End file.
